John Hunter Nemechek entered the Michigan race in the midst of a career year. He delivered another big performance for Joe Gibbs Racing by leading 65 laps, winning stage 2 and scoring his fifth win of the season.
Nemechek did not have an easy path to Victory Lane. He was involved in a multi-car incident on Lap 11 that sent him spinning onto the apron of the track. He was able to continue in the race along with teammate Ty Gibbs, who showed his displeasure under caution. Sammy Smith, however, had to head to the garage due to the amount of damage to his No. 18 Toyota.
“I have to apologize to Ty (Gibbs) and the 19 team,” Nemechek told NBC Sports’ Kim Coon after the race. “I didn’t mean to get into him. I’m the one that has been preaching about teammates. It was my fault.
“I put him in a bad aero spot. It looked like he got loose and then I couldn’t checkup. Just chain reaction type of events – but it is my fault. I take the blame for that.”
Nemechek ended the first stage 18th, but he stayed out on the track after pitting early and taking a different pit strategy than the leaders. He spent stage 2 battling Gibbs, and he took the lead in time to win the stage and score a playoff point.
Nemechek remained at the front of the pack after the stage break, and he spent the majority of the final stage in the lead before scoring his fifth race win of the season.
The North Carolina native entered the season with two career Xfinity wins — one in 2018 and one in 2021. He has since added five more while putting himself in the championship conversation.
Here are some takeaways from a busy afternoon at Michigan
Sam Mayer keeps his momentum
JR Motorsports driver Sam Mayer made 70 Xfinity starts before scoring his first career win at Road America. He made the playoffs last season, but he also dealt with the highs and lows of NASCAR competition.
Mayer told NBC Sports’ Dustin Long that a lunch conversation with performance coach Josh Wise was a pivotal moment in his path to Victory Lane. They focused on his communication and self-confidence, which paid off at the Wisconsin road course and set Mayer up for the playoffs.
“My confidence is way through the roof,” Mayer said. “Carrying that through the rest of the summer and into the playoffs is, obviously, really huge.”
Mayer scored his first career win last Saturday, and he kept his momentum with a strong performance at Michigan. He earned points in the first two stages before finishing fifth.
The race at Michigan marked his seventh top-five finish, his third in a row, and it kept him sixth in the standings. Now he will try to keep this momentum during back-to-back road course races.
Jordan Anderson Racing continues building
This season has been significant for Jordan Anderson Racing. The team expanded to two full-time entries with Parker Retzlaff and Jeb Burton, and it celebrated its first Xfinity win at Talladega.
The two drivers delivered solid runs for JAR at Michigan with top-10 finishes. Retzlaff finished ninth and Burton finished 10th.
Burton, in particular, recovered from a spin on pit road and put himself back in contention.
P.10 for the 2️⃣7️⃣ team! pic.twitter.com/Wx3TmuvfFu
— Jeb Burton (@JebBurtonRacing) August 5, 2023
The two top-10 finishes marked the third time this season they have achieved this feat. Burton won at Talladega in April while Retzlaff finished seventh. Retzlaff then finished sixth at Charlotte while Burton finished seventh.
JAR is only in the midst of its second full-time season after rain and a lack of qualifying limited the team to 23 starts in 2021. There is still work to do before both cars are regularly contending for top-10 finishes, but Burton and Retzlaff have shown glimpses of this possible future.
Incidents disrupted a dominant car
The first 60 laps at Michigan made it appear that Justin Allgaier would be the driver to beat. He won the first stage, lost his spot at the front of the pack during the stage break due to pit strategy and then he worked his way back up to second before the end of stage 2.
A pair of incidents disrupted Allgaier’s day after the strong start. The first was contact from Ty Gibbs on pit road that sent him spinning and dropped him to 30th in the running order.
Allgaier was able to work his way back through the field in nine laps, and he put himself inside of the top 10. However, he then received a penalty during green flag stops for a crew member going over the wall too early.
Allgaier had to serve a pass-through penalty, which took him out of the top 10 and out of contention for the win. He was able to work his way up to 14th before the end of the race, but he missed out on an opportunity to score his second win of the season.
There were no new winners at Michigan International Speedway, but the two drivers battling for the regular-season championship moved into a tie.
Here are the points reports:
Click here for the driver standings l Click here for the team owner standings
Austin Hill entered the weekend with a 14-point lead over John Hunter Nemecheck. He scored points in the first two stages, but he finished 11th after dealing with transmission issues.
Nemechek spun on Lap 11, but he recovered and won stage 2. He went on to win the race. Both drivers left Michigan with 811 points. They will now head to back-to-back road course races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Watkins Glen International.
The cutline took an interesting turn. Brandon Jones delivered a season-best performance in which he scored points in the first two stages before finishing third. He went from 61 points below the cutline to 45 points below.
Jones still has work to do to reach the playoffs, but he put himself within reach of Parker Kligerman and Sheldon Creed. Both drivers missed out on stage points at Michigan.
John Hunter Nemechek led 65 laps and won his fifth race of the Xfinity season.
Click here for where everyone finished at Michigan.
Click here for the cumulative race report.
Click here for the penalty report.
John Hunter Nemechek won the Xfinity Series race at Michigan International Speedway. This was his fifth of the season, and it was the 200th Xfinity win for Joe Gibbs Racing.
“It’s definitely special,” Nemechek told NBC Sports’ Kim Coon. “Being able to win so many races for JGR in Xfinity Series — I’m just the lucky guy that gets to hold the wheel of these fast Toyota GR Supras every single weekend.”
Several drivers have combined to help JGR reach this milestone. Kyle Busch won 90 races during his time with the Toyota-affiliated team, which is the most by far.
The list of JGR winners includes Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Elliott Sadler, Brandon Jones, Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell, Harrison Burton, Nemechek, Ryan Truex, Mike Bliss, Mike McLaughlin, Aric Almirola, Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth, Erik Jones, Ryan Preece, Bobby Labonte, Daniel Suarez, Sammy Smith, Daniel Hemric and Sam Hornish Jr.
JGR has now reached the 200-win milestone in two different series. Bell delivered the 200th Cup win at Martinsville Speedway last season.
HE'S DONE IT ... AGAIN! 🖐️@JHNemechek wins the #CaboWabo250 at @MISpeedway! pic.twitter.com/UgE7wGXHV0
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) August 5, 2023
John Hunter Nemechek has won at Michigan after holding off a pair of JR Motorsports drivers.
Nemechek led the field to green on the final restart. He had teammate Ty Gibbs on his inside and Josh Berry behind him. He jumped out to a massive lead after taking the green while Berry and Brandon Jones moved into second and third.
Berry put himself on Nemechek’s tail, but he could not make the pass. He ultimately fell back and got loose after contact from Jones.
Both drivers kept moving forward and finished second and third. Gibbs finished fourth while Sam Mayer crossed the finish line fifth.
Nemechek now has a series-high five wins after the first 21 races. He broke his tie with Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill.
The Xfinity Series field is going to line up for another restart at Michigan International Speedway.
Patrick Emerling hitting the wall and limping back to pit road in the No. 35 Ford brought out the caution with 12 to go. This erased John Hunter Nemechek’s lead over Josh Berry and the rest of the field, and it set up another restart.
Nemechek entered the weekend with four wins on the season, but the other drivers behind them were in different situations. Berry and Jones were both trying to win their first race while Ty Gibbs was on a mission to win back-to-back races at Michigan.
Cole Custer was running in fifth at the time of the caution, but he headed down pit road. He had been complaining about a vibration and a possible loose tire, so the stop provided the crew with an opportunity to put some scuffed tires back on the No. 00 Ford.
There are fewer than 30 laps left in the race at Michigan, and Xfinity drivers are making their green flag pit stops.
Josh Berry, Sam Mayer, Justin Allgaier, Ross Chastain, Austin Hill, Brandon Jones, Ty Gibbs and John Hunter Nemechek all made their stops on consecutive laps while trying to put together a winning stop.
Nemechek was able to maintain his lead over Berry and Gibbs. Allgaier had to serve a pass-through penalty for a crew member over the wall too soon, which essentially took him out of contention for the win. This occurred after he recovered from a spin on pit road and moved his way back into the top 10.
Another contender dealt with an issue on the stop. Austin Hill was slow leaving his pit stall. He said over the radio that the No. 21 Chevrolet was stuck in fourth gear.
40 laps remain at Michigan International Speedway, and Justin Allgaier is on the move.
The JR Motorsports driver restarted 30th after contact from Ty Gibbs sent him spinning on pit road. He worked his way up to ninth in only nine laps before getting stuck behind teammate Sam Mayer.
Allgaier was able to take eighth from Mayer with 40 to go, which put him in a position to track down Cole Custer and Gibbs.
Meanwhile, pole-winner Josh Berry moved into second and began trying to track down John Hunter Nemechek. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver maintained his two-second advantage.
John Hunter Nemechek pitted before the end of stage 1 after being involved in an incident with Sammy Smith and Ty Gibbs. This set him up to stay out during the stage break.
This move paid off. Gibbs inherited the lead from stage 1-winner Justin Allgaier during the break, and he led the majority of stage 2.
Nemechek passed him with six laps remaining, and he went on to win stage 2. Allgaier finished second while Gibbs, Riley Herbst and Austin Hill rounded out the top five.
Brandon Jones scored five points in stage 1 while Parker Kligerman and Sheldon Creed finished outside of the top 10. He then added another two points in stage 2 while Kligerman and Creed missed out on points once again.
These stage points are an important part of the battle for the final playoff spot.
The Xfinity Series field took the green flag on Lap 36 to start stage 2. Two laps later, the official displayed the yellow flag once again.
The cause of the caution was Connor Mosack getting turned into the wall entering turn 1. He sustained heavy damage to the right side of the No. 24 Toyota and had to make a trip down pit road.
Replay showed Joe Graf Jr. making contact with the rear of Mosack at the start of the incident. Mosack was unable to continue in the race. Graf Jr. went on the DVP (Damaged Vehicle Policy) Clock.
Ty Gibbs was in the lead at the time of the caution after he stayed out during the stage break. John Hunter Nemechek was running second. Like Gibbs, he also stayed out after pitting before the end of stage 1.
Justin Allgaier took the lead from Josh Berry on the opening lap of the Xfinity Series race at Michigan. He has led every lap since.
The driver of the No. 7 maintained his lead through three restarts, and he took the green and white checkered flag first to score his eighth stage win of the season.
Berry finished second in the stage after starting from the pole. Cole Custer was third. Chandler Smith and Riley Herbst rounded out the top five.
Brandon Jones finished the first stage sixth as he continues to battle Parker Kligerman and Sheldon Creed for the final spot above the playoff cutline. Neither Creed nor Kligerman scored stage points.
Kligerman ended the stage 11th. This followed his comments during Countdown to Green about how he finishes 11th in the first stage of every race before cracking the top 10 in the second stage.
The race at Michigan has featured two cautions in the first 11 laps. The first was for a single-car spin while the second was a multi-car incident that sent Sammy Smith’s car to the garage.
The incident occurred as the Joe Gibbs Racing cars were all racing in a line. John Hunter Nemechek spun off the nose of Smith while Ty Gibbs spun off the nose of Nemechek.
The No. 20 Toyota spun down onto the apron while the No. 19 Toyota spun next to the outside wall. Both entries avoided damage.
The No. 18 of Smith suffered the worst. It spun into the rear of Carson Hocevar’s No. 77 and sustained significant damage. Smith was unable to continue in the race, and he ended with a 38th-place finish.
Hocevar’s day also took a turn after he went to pit road for repairs. His No. 77 lost a wheel.
The Xfinity race at Michigan has come to an early halt with the first caution flag of the day.
Kaz Grala brought out the yellow while battling Parker Kligerman for position. He lost control and spun down into the infield grass. Sheldon Creed, Jeb Burton and the other drivers behind Grala were able to avoid making contact, so it remained a single-car caution.
Grala had to head to his pit stall for a new right-front tire on the No. 26 Toyota, but he avoided damage from contact with other cars or the wall.
.@KazGrala comes in for a right front tire down — no damage on the 26. #CaboWabo250 | #TeamToyota pic.twitter.com/PZUxxcZ6Dy
— Sam Hunt Racing (@Team_SHR26) August 5, 2023
The Xfinity Series race at Michigan is officially underway with pole-winner Josh Berry taking the green flag.
Berry and teammate Justin Allgaier ran side-by-side on the opening lap, but it was Allgaier that surged ahead. Austin Hill then dove to the bottom of the track while battling Sam Mayer for third, but he could not complete the pass.
While the majority of drivers used the bottom of the track to make turns, Ross Chastain took a different approach in the No. 10 Chevrolet. He ventured into the resin on the outside.
Allgaier has led the first five laps while building up a lead of one second over Berry.
BROOKLYN, MI. – The Xfinity Series returns to the Irish Hills for a race at Michigan International Speedway.
The 125-lap event at the 2-mile track is one of the six remaining races before the playoffs begin. There are four spots open to new winners after Sam Mayer won his first career race at Road America.
Ty Gibbs is the only previous winner entered in Saturday’s race. He will make another start for Joe Gibbs Racing while trying to win back-to-back events at Michigan.
Xfinity Series coverage will begin with Countdown to Green at 3 p.m. on NBC and Peacock. The pre-race coverage will continue on NBC and Peacock at 3:30 p.m.
Follow along for updates throughout Saturday afternoon from the racetrack.
