Nemechek advances to Xfinity playoffs round of 8 with win at Texas
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — John Hunter Nemechek moved into the round of eight of the Xfinity Series playoffs with a win at Texas, where he took the final lead after front-running Justin Allgaier got moved up the track on the 195th of 200 laps on Saturday.
It was the seventh win of the season for Nemechek, the fifth in the past 12 races in his Toyota.
Nemechek was running behind Allgaier and Parker Klingerman, who appeared to get loose on the inside and sent the leader up the track. Nemechek, who led 38 laps, then tucked in behind Klingerman going on the frontstretch before racing by him.
“Well, I messed up that final restart. It bounced out of third gear. That one was on me. I knew that I had to push hard and try to recover right there,” Nemechek said. “Hats off to the 20 team, Joe Gibbs Racing. It is absolutely amazing what we’ve been able to accomplish so far this year and I don’t think we are done yet.”
The top eight finishers were all playoff contenders, with only a race at the Roval in Charlotte in two weeks remaining before the series moves into its second playoff round. There will be nine drivers competing for five remaining spots.
“My goal coming into today was to lock ourselves in to the next round,” Nemechek said. “Going into the Roval and not having to worry about that is definitely a relief.”
Allgaier was already in the round of eight after winning the playoff opener at Bristol, and the JR Motorsports driver won both stages for the 10th time this season before finishing fifth. Cole Custer also clinched a spot in the round of eight on points by finishing sixth.
Klingerman was the runner-up ahead of Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith. Austin Hill was seventh, and Sheldon Creed eighth.
The late slip wasn’t the first time that Allgaier, who led four times for 134 laps, slid out of the lead at the 1 1/2-mile oval. He was in front after a restart with 86 laps remaining when he got loose and drifted up the track as other cars drove by him. He fell all the way to 15th.
With a temperature of 99 degrees, five degrees warmer than last September, it again was the hottest Xfinity race at Texas. Temperatures inside some cars exceeded 130 degrees.
Sammy Smith had issues with the cool shirt, while Josh Williams was replaced by another driver in the No. 92 midway through the race after he started feeling bad.
“My cool shirt broke at the end of stage one, and it was just miserable,” Smith said.
There were 12 cautions, a season high for the Xfinity Series. That was one below the track record.
Playoff contenders Josh Berry and Hill got caught up in an incident on lap 98, after the restart following the second stage when Trevor Bayne got loose in Turn 4.
After clipping the right rear of Berry’s car, Bayne slid down the track and was hit by Hill, who was behind that mess after losing seven spots — from third to 10th — in the pits on the yellow flag at the end of the second stage.
Playoff driver Sam Mayer crashed out from his third consecutive race, and this time the No. 1 JR Motorsports car didn’t even complete the first lap. Mayer got loose out of Turn 2 and slammed hard into the wall. He finished last in the 38-car field.
In the playoff opener at Bristol last week, Mayer and teammate Berry were involved in a crash with each other. Mayer finished 35th, still two spots better than the regular-season finale at Kansas when he crashed out after finishing only 20 of 200 laps.
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