Nemechek Rolls to Decisive Xfinity Victory at Kansas

NASCAR.com

KANSAS CITY, KS – RIS – It was no contest.  John Hunter Nemechek dominated the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Kansas Speedway Saturday while the elimination race left some drivers ineligible for a championship in 2023.

Second-finishing Branon Jones needed a win to make the playoffs, but Parker Klingerman ran well and moved into that final spot.  Sheldon Creed finished third, Kligerman was fourth and Austin Hill rounded out the top five.

“I don’t know if this makes us a favorite or not, but super proud of the whole No. 20 team,” said Nemechek, who led 154 of 200 laps. “All the guys made the right adjustments all day. They brought a really fast hotrod.”

Nemechek has made big headlines this week.  Nemechek swept the first two stages before taking the checkered flag for the sixth time this season. Earlier in the week, Nemechek was announced as the next full-time driver of the No. 42 in the NASCAR Cup Series, teaming with Erik Jones at Legacy Motor Club.

“It’s been an exciting week,” Nemechek said with a smile.

Daniel Hemric clinched his playoff spot on points simply by taking the green flag. Good thing he didn’t need to do anything more, either, because his engine began popping early in the race and he finished 80 laps down.

Kligerman began the day worrying about Riley Herbst, who wound up having to deal with damage from an early wreck the rest of the afternoon. The two started one point apart in the standings, which basically meant that unless there was a non-winner in victory lane, whomever finished ahead of the other would get the 12th playoff spot.

Jones could have been that spoiler, but he could never chase down Nemechek over a final green-flag run.

“I was the biggest Nemechek fan at the end,” Kligerman said. “We executed at a high level and that’s what I’ve seen us do the last 12 weeks. I felt if we could just get into the playoffs and bring that forward, we could compete for a championship.”

Kligerman and Herbst were running near each other early in the race. But on a restart, Kligerman dropped backward through the field and Herbst plowed into his rear, sending the No. 98 car to the pits and ultimately two laps down.

Herbst rallied onto the lead lap and quickly climbed into the top 10. But his front right corner was heavily damaged from his earlier wreck, creating some tire rub, and Herbst had to pit again with 72 laps left to effectively end his playoff hopes.

“I honestly felt like we had one of the fastest cars out there. I felt like we were one of the fastest 12 cars all year,” Herbst said. “We just didn’t execute on that restart. I don’t know what happened. They all got stacked up, or someone missed a gear, but from then on our day was in a big hole.”

Another playoff driver -Cole Custer- was upset at NASCAR.  Custer is already in the playoffs after a pair of wins earlier this season. But that didn’t make him any less perturbed after NASCAR failed to throw a flag in time for him to avoid a large chunk of tire that was on the track. The debris sent Custer into the outside wall and caused too much damage for the No. 00 to continue.

“I don’t want to put blame on anybody, if it’s dumb luck or I should be mad at NASCAR. I don’t know how long the tire was out there,” Custer said. “That tire was sitting right where I was washing up into.”

Unofficial Results: Kansas Lottery 300, September 9, 2023 - Kansas Speedway
Fin, St, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 7, John Hunter Nemechek, No. 20 Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota, 200, 1, 1, 4, 154, 7, 60, Running
2) 4, Brandon Jones, No. 9 Menards/NIBCO Chevrolet, 200, 4, , 1, 2, , 42, Running
3) 16, Sheldon Creed, No. 2 Whelen/NFFF Chevrolet, 200, 8, 6, , , , 42, Running
4) 15, Parker Kligerman, No. 48 Spiked Light Coolers Chevrolet, 200, 6, 7, , , , 42, Running
5) 9, Austin Hill, No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet, 200, 7, 5, , , , 42, Running
6) 6, Josh Berry, No. 8 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Chevrolet, 200, , 4, , , , 38, Running
7) 10, Brett Moffitt, No. 25 Concrete Supply/Destiny Homes Ford, 200, , 10, , , , 31, Running
8) 18, Derek Kraus, No. 11 Hardscape Construction Inc. Chevrolet, 200, 10, 8, , , , 33, Running
9) 11, Joe Graf Jr., No. 19 RUT Testosterone Toyota, 200, , , , , , 28, Running
10) 31, Kaz Grala, No. 26 Island Coastal Lager Toyota, 200, , , , , , 27, Running
11) 26, Parker Retzlaff #, No. 31 Bommarito.com/FVP Chevrolet, 200, , 9, , , , 28, Running
12) 17, Jeb Burton, No. 27 Bommarito.com/TORQ Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 24, Josh Williams, No. 92 Call811.com/Alloy Employer Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 20, Connor Mosack, No. 24 MKS Toyota, 199, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 21, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 Kansas State University Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 37, Mason Massey, No. 08 BRUNT Ford, 199, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 23, Ryan Ellis, No. 43 Kansas Land/American Racing Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 1, Justin Allgaier, No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet, 199, 3, 3, 1, 40, , 35, Running
19) 27, Matt Mills(i), No. 53 J.F. Electric Chevrolet, 198, , , , , , 0, Running
20) 29, Kyle Sieg, No. 29  Ford, 198, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 25, Dawson Cram, No. 07 Titan Construction Chevrolet, 198, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 38, CJ McLaughlin, No. 28 Sci Aps Ford, 198, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 8, Riley Herbst, No. 98 Monster Energy Ford, 198, 9, , , , , 16, Running
24) 36, Joey Gase, No. 35 Cancun Mexican Grill & Bar Toyota, 198, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 34, Garrett Smithley, No. 4 Page Construction Chevrolet, 198, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 28, Leland Honeyman, No. 66 Coble Enterprises Ford, 197, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 32, Anthony Alfredo, No. 78 Andy's Frozen Custard Chevrolet, 197, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 33, Brennan Poole, No. 6 BeOne Sports Chevrolet, 197, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 22, Rajah Caruth(i), No. 45 Circle Pay Chevrolet, 197, , , , , , 0, Running
30) 14, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 Sci Aps Ford, 196, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 30, Nick Leitz(i), No. 38 Support a Teacher Ford, 194, , , , , , 0, Running
32) 12, Chandler Smith #, No. 16 Quick Tie Products Inc. Chevrolet, 186, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 35, Blaine Perkins #, No. 02 AutoParkit.com Chevrolet, 140, , , , , , 4, Brakes
34) 5, Daniel Hemric, No. 10 Cirkul Chevrolet, 120, , , , , , 3, Running
35) 2, Sammy Smith #, No. 18 TMC Toyota, 97, 5, 2, 1, 1, , 17, Accident
36) 3, Cole Custer, No. 00 Haas Automation Ford, 60, 2, , 1, 3, , 10, Accident
37) 13, Sam Mayer, No. 1 Huck's Market/Accelerate Chevrolet, 20, , , , , , 1, Accident
38) 19, Kyle Weatherman, No. 91 Tweaker Energy Drinks Chevrolet, 19, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Race Length: 200 Laps - 300. Miles
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 44 Mins, 45 Secs.
Average Speed: 109.256 MPH
Margin of Victory: 7.521 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 20, 00, 7, 9, 18, 48, 21, 2, 98, 11
Stage 2 Top 10: 20, 18, 7, 8, 21, 2, 48, 11, 31, 25

Comments: John Hunter Nemechek has won the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway, his eighth career victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason(s) indicated: No. 28 (Engine Change), No. 53 (Unapproved Adjustments), and No. 66 (Driver Change).

Failed to Qualify: (1) 44 Leland Honeyman.

Cautions: 10 for 49 laps;
Laps: 2-5 (#38, 78 Incident Turn 1 [None]);
14-18 (Debris at Pit Road Entrance [78]);
20-25 (#1, 2, 91 Incident Frontstretch [38]);
47-51 (Stage 1 Conclusion [02]);
61-64 (Debris Turn 1 [4]);
76-79 (#9 Spin Turn 4 [51]);
92-96 (Stage 2 Conclusion [28]);
98-103 (#2, 7, 9, 18 Incident Turn 3 [98]);
139-143 (#45, 53 Incident Turn 4 [24]);
146-150 (#45 Spin Turn 4 [51]).

Lead Changes: 7 among 5 drivers;
J. Allgaier 1-40;
J. Nemechek 41-48;
C. Custer 49-51;
J. Nemechek 52-78;
S. Smith # 79;
J. Nemechek 80-93;
B. Jones 94-95;
J. Nemechek 96-200.