Nemechek Roars to Dominating Xfinity Win at Kansas

(Photo: Cole Penning | The Podium Finish)

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — John Hunter Nemechek couldn’t have a much better week. On Wednesday, Nemechek announced he’s joining LEGACY Motor Club next season in the NASCAR Cup Series. In Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, he schooled the field, leading 154 laps to win his sixth race of the 2023 season.

The victory is also Toyota’s 200th in Xfinity.

“Our Pye Barker Toyota GR Supra was really, really good,” Nemechek said after the race. “Hats off to this whole 20 crew, Toyota, TRD, everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing. We finally got the Pye Barker colors back in victory lane … Amazing day, amazing car. We came in here with a goal to get a 60-point day to try to maximize Playoff points and we were able to do so. It’s a huge step going into the Playoffs. We definitely have momentum on our side.

“With us being able to get 200 wins for Toyota on the Xfinity side is something special. I think is what makes it even more special is after my year in Cup in 2020, the opportunity I had to go Truck racing with Kyle Busch – it wouldn’t have happened without KB or Toyota, TRD. To go Xfinity Series racing, it wouldn’t have happened without Coach (Joe Gibbs), Coy (Gibbs), and a lot of others that were involved, as well as Toyota, TRD. They mean a lot to me, I’m glad to continue my relationship with them in the future. Hopefully, we can win a lot more races together.”

Nemechek missed on his qualifying lap Saturday morning and started seventh, but it didn’t take him long to get out front. Using a series of early cautions to his advantage, Nemechek got up to the lead on Lap 41 and cruised across for the stage victory on Lap 45.

From the time he took the lead, Nemechek surrendered it for just a total of six laps. He won Stage 2 convincingly, but Brandon Jones, who needed a win to get in, gambled and stayed out during the caution. Nemechek captured the lead back on the restart and led the remainder of the race.

Jones ended up finishing second, falling a spot short of wiping the frustrations of a wildly inconsistent first season with JR Motorsports.

“I had some weird feeling that John Hunter was going to have some kind of problem or something,” Jones joked after the race. “My goal basically once he kind of got far out like that was just to stay second and hope that he tagged the wall or has a flat or something. That would have been my only hope to try and get him there.”

The most important battle, however, was for the final playoff spot on points. After Sam Mayer unintentionally spun Parker Kligerman in the closing laps at Darlington Raceway, Kligerman sat a point below Riley Herbst for the final transfer spot

Herbst, however, had a string of bad luck that included contact with Parker Kligerman and a flat tire. He made an unexpected stop and fell two laps down, but after receiving the wave around and the lucky dog in consecutive cautions, he got back into the game.

But on Lap 128, Herbst suffered another flat tire, ending his chances for a playoff spot as Kligerman finished fourth.

Parker Kligerman secured the final Xfinity Series playoff spot. (Photo: Cole Penning | The Podium Finish)

“I knew [Kligerman] scored points in the first few stages, so we couldn’t just outrun him,” Herbst explained. “I was more than likely going to have to win.”

“I’ve had this mindset for the last few weeks. I set out at Daytona to become a better racecar driver and hopefully to win races. I wasn’t really looking forward to rounds and points. Obviously, every driver in Daytona wants to go win the championship, but I was looking at a more personal level of growth.”

Kligerman, who has top 10s in nine of his last 11 races, made Big Machine Racing’s inaugural playoff appearance in his first season with the organization.

“This means a lot. It means a lot to give Big Machine Racing their first playoff berth,” Kligerman said. “For a young racing team to just go through the progression it has led by Scott Borchetta and everyone at Spiked Light Coolers. You could see it this year, like sometime halfway through, we just started clicking it off, executing, things came gelled and suddenly, it was like we should be a part of the playoffs.”

Despite Nemechek’s perfect 60-point day, Austin Hill hung on to win the regular-season championship by five points and claim the bonus of 15 playoff points. He won four times, including three of the first five races, and recorded 19 top 10s in the first 26 races.

Nemechek, however, will kick off the playoffs with a 10-point advantage over Hill.

Stage 1 Top 10

1. John Hunter Nemechek
2. Cole Custer
3. Justin Allgaier
4. Brandon Jones
5. Sammy Smith
6. Parker Kligerman
7. Austin Hill
8. Sheldon Creed
9. Riley Herbst
10. Derek Kraus

Stage 2 Top 10

1. John Hunter Nemechek
2. Sammy Smith
3. Justin Allgaier
4. Josh Berry
5. Austin Hill
6. Sheldon Creed
7. Parker Kligerman
8. Derek Kraus
9. Parker Retzlaff
10. Brett Moffitt

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Points Standings (After Reset)