FORT WORTH, Texas — 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.
Results
Saturday
At Texas Motor Speedway
Fort Worth, Texas.
Lap length: 1.50 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (11) John H. Nemechek, Toyota, 200 laps, 53 points.
2. (7) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 200, 42.
3. (15) Sammy Smith, Toyota, 200, 37.
4. (9) Chandler Smith, Chevrolet, 200, 38.
5. (1) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 200, 52.
6. (3) Cole Custer, Ford, 200, 48.
7. (5) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 200, 47.
8. (24) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 200, 29.
9. (8) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 200, 35.
10. (22) Brett Moffitt, Ford, 200, 27.
11. (17) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 200, 26.
12. (19) Kyle Sieg, Ford, 200, 25.
13. (30) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 200, 24.
14. (33) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 200, 23.
15. (12) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 200, 22.
16. (36) Parker Chase, Toyota, 199, 21.
17. (26) Daniel Dye, Chevrolet, 199, 0.
18. (14) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 199, 19.
19. (38) Layne Riggs, Chevrolet, 198, 18.
20. (23) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 198, 17.
21. (25) Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, 198, 16.
22. (32) David Starr, Chevrolet, 197, 15.
23. (20) Sage Karam, Ford, 197, 14.
24. (13) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, accident, 195, 13.
25. (37) Cj McLaughlin, Ford, 195, 12.
26. (27) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 194, 11.
27. (4) Josh Berry, Chevrolet, 193, 18.
28. (31) JJ Yeley, Ford, accident, 183, 9.
29. (16) Kaz Grala, Toyota, accident, 183, 8.
30. (18) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, accident, 108, 7.
31. (28) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, suspension, 108, 6.
32. (34) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, accident, 106, 5.
33. (2) Trevor Bayne, Toyota, accident, 97, 17.
34. (21) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, accident, 55, 3.
35. (29) Patrick Emerling, Chevrolet, suspension, 24, 2.
36. (35) Joe Graf Jr, Ford, dvp, 11, 1.
37. (10) Riley Herbst, Ford, accident, 2, 1.
38. (6) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, accident, 0, 1.
Race Statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 107.151 mph.
Time of Race: 2 hours, 47 minutes, 59 seconds.
Margin of Victory: 1.005 seconds.
Caution Flags: 12 for 65 laps.
Lead Changes: 9 among 4 drivers.
Lap Leaders: J.Allgaier 0-52; C.Custer 53-63; J.Allgaier 64-97; C.Custer 98-104; J.Allgaier 105-114; C.Custer 115-124; J.Nemechek 125-155; J.Allgaier 156-192; P.Kligerman 193; J.Nemechek 194-200
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): J.Allgaier, 4 times for 133 laps; J.Nemechek, 2 times for 38 laps; C.Custer, 3 times for 28 laps; P.Kligerman, 1 time for 1 lap.
Wins: J.Nemechek, 6; A.Hill, 4; J.Allgaier, 3; C.Custer, 2; S.Mayer, 2; C.Smith, 1; S.Smith, 1; J.Burton, 1; R.Truex, 1.
Top 16 in Points: 1. J.Nemechek, 2095; 2. J.Allgaier, 2085; 3. C.Custer, 2069; 4. A.Hill, 2051; 5. C.Smith, 2048; 6. D.Hemric, 2042; 7. S.Smith, 2035; 8. S.Creed, 2034; 9. J.Burton, 2030; 10. S.Mayer, 2020; 11. P.Kligerman, 2012; 12. J.Berry, 2010; 13. R.Herbst, 705; 14. B.Jones, 631; 15. B.Moffitt, 591; 16. P.Retzlaff, 533.
NASCAR Driver Rating Formula
A maximum of 150 points can be attained in a race.
The formula combines the following categories: Wins, Finishes, Top-15 Finishes, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap, Average Speed Under Green, Fastest Lap, Led Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish.
Cup Series
FORT WORTH, Texas — Bubba Wallace will start from the pole at Texas. It is the first race in the second round of NASCAR’s playoffs, and comes after Wallace just made the cut to make the round of 12. Wallace turned a lap of 188.337 mph in the final round of qualifying Saturday. He finished ahead of fellow playoff contenders and RFK Racing teammates Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski. It is the second career pole for Wallace, the 23XI Racing driver who entered the round of 12 in 12th place after the points were reset following the first three playoff races.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Bubba Wallace will start from the pole at Texas, the first race after he just made the cut to get into the second round of NASCAR’s playoffs.
Wallace turned a lap of 188.337 mph in the final round of qualifying Saturday, finishing ahead of fellow playoff contenders and RFK Racing teammates Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski.
“Was I expecting it? I don’t know,” Wallace said. “Qualifying, you know, I tend to try too hard and overthink things. And that’s my problem with life, I need to stop doing it, I just need to just go out and do. So that was a good surprise.”
It is the second career pole for Wallace, the 23XI Racing driver who entered the round of 12 in 12th place after the points were reset following the first three playoff races.
Buescher will start on the front row Sunday with Wallace after a final lap of 188.081 mph. Keselowski, who is the owner of Buescher’s No. 17 car, qualified third at 187.891 mph.
Christopher Bell was among the 10 drivers that advanced to the final round of qualifying at the 1 1/2-mile Texas track. But he will start ninth after being on the pole for each of the first three playoff races: at Darlington, Bristol and Kansas.
Defending race winner Tyler Reddick, Wallace’s teammate with 23XI Racing, starts 15th. Reddick won last year at Texas when still driving for Richard Childress Racing.
Points leader William Byron, who has a series-high five wins this season, will start 18th. That is two spots behind Martin Truex Jr., who has the same number of points but two fewer wins than Byron.
Lineup
After Saturday qualifying; race Sunday
At Texas Motor Speedway
Fort Worth, Texas.
Lap length: 1.50 miles
(Car number in parentheses)
1. (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 188.337 mph.
2. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, 188.081.
3. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 187.891.
4. (54) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 187.761.
5. (1) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 187.702.
6. (16) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 187.350.
7. (8) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 186.948.
8. (99) Daniel Suárez, Chevrolet, 186.948.
9. (20) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 186.896.
10. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, .000.
11. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 188.035.
12. (43) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 187.682.
13. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 187.520.
14. (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 187.500.
15. (45) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 187.292.
16. (19) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 186.851.
17. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford, 186.567.
18. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet, 186.400.
19. (42) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 186.168.
20. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 186.143.
21. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, 186.040.
22. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 185.624.
23. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 185.586.
24. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Chevrolet, 185.503.
25. (41) Ryan Preece, Ford, 185.459.
26. (77) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 185.211.
27. (7) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 185.033.
28. (31) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 185.014.
29. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 184.805.
30. (21) Harrison Burton, Ford, 184.735.
31. (14) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 184.729.
32. (2) Austin Cindric, Ford, 184.445.
33. (38) Zane Smith, Ford, 184.200.
34. (78) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 183.530.
35. (15) JJ Yeley, Ford, 182.710.
36. (51) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 182.611.
