John Hunter Nemechek was in championship form on Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.
It wasn’t so much that he earned a division leading fifth NASCAR Xfinity Series victory this season, but it was more about how he accomplished the feat. For one, he had to overcome his involvement in a Lap 14 crash with teammates Ty Gibbs and Sammy Smith.
Gibbs gestured angrily at Nemechek under the ensuing caution. Gibbs spun due to contact from Nemechek behind him but only because he got loose on corner exit. Smith actually got the worst of it due to getting hit by Carson Hocevar, who himself had nowhere to go.
Despite that, Nemechek made his way to the front and led the most laps, before needing to survive a restart with seven laps to go. The race tested his #20 Joe Gibbs Racing team in holistic fashion and he responded to each challenge with a figurative perfect score.
It was a subdued victory lane for Nemechek, who instead used the platform to apologize to his teammates, taking responsibility for the incident.
“I have to apologize to Ty,” Nemechek said after climbing out of his car. “I’ve been the one who’s been very vocal about team-mates here recently. I put him in a bad aero spot. I got him loose, and he couldn’t check up.
“It’s my mistake. I hate that we both spun early, but at least we were able to rebound. I know he’s not too happy with me, and he has every right not to be.”
Josh Berry in the JR Motorsports No. 8 started from the pole and finished second without leading a single lap. He took the final restart from the front row but just didn’t have enough to beat Nemechek over a seven-lap dash.
“We just felt really tight that last run,” Berry said. “I was kind of inching in on him for a while (before the last caution), and then we kind of leveled out… Overall, we were a little too tight to make a run at him there.”
Justin Allgaier, driving the JR Motorsports No. 7, had equal reasons to Gibbs to be the most frustrated driver after the race.
Allgaier led all 30 laps of the opening stage, but a slow pit stop during the ensuing break cost him eight positions. He drove all the way back to second by the end of the second stage but a penalty for a crewman over the wall too soon during a green flag stop on Lap 97 sent him to the rear of the field. He finished 14th with a car that looked capable of winning the race.
The win leaves Nemechek in a tie with Austin Hill for the Xfinity Series points lead. Parker Kligerman gained four points on Sheldon Creed for the final provisional playoff spot with five races remaining in the regular season.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Cabo Wabo 250 Results
1. John Hunter Nemechek
2. Josh Berry
3. Brandon Jones
4. Ty Gibbs
5. Sam Mayer
6. Riley Herbst
7. Ross Chastain
8. Parker Kligerman
9. Parker Retzlaff
10. Jeb Burton
11. Austin Hill
12. Sheldon Creed
13. Ryan Sieg
14. Justin Allgaier
15. Daniel Hemric
16. Cole Custer
17. Brett Moffitt
18. Anthony Alfredo
19. Kyle Sieg
20. Chandler Smith
21. Kaz Grala
22. Josh Williams
23. Ryan Ellis
24. Jeffrey Earnhardt
25. Sage Karam
26. Jeremy Clements
27. Joe Graf Jr
28. Dawson Cram
29. Brennan Poole
30. Garrett Smithley
31. Stefan Parsons
32. Carson Hocevar
33. Blaine Perkins
34. Patrick Emerling
35. Kyle Weatherman
36. Connor Mosack
37. Mason Maggio
38. Sammy Smith
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