FORT WORTH, Texas – John Hunter Nemechek, making a rare NASCAR Xfinity Series start for Joe Gibbs Racing, overcame a pit road penalty to win the Andy’s Frozen Custard 335 Saturday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway.
The victory came a few days removed from Nemechek announcing a contract extension with Kyle Busch Motorsports to continue competing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series next season. He currently leads the Truck Series standings with three races left in the season.
Wheeling the No. 54 Toyota, Nemechek had the fastest car all afternoon at the 1.5-mile speedway. However, when he visited pit road following a caution on lap 142, his team was penalized when one of his crew members went over the wall too soon.
RESULTS: Andy’s Frozen Custard 335
Nemechek, who entered pit road as the race leader, was sent to the rear of the field as a result of the penalty. That handed the lead to Xfinity Series playoff contender Daniel Hemric, who was searching for his first Xfinity Series triumph.
Hemric quickly assumed control of the race and pulled out to a comfortable lead while Nemechek went to work trying to race his way back through the field when the race resumed with 51 laps left.
“Stevie Reeves (spotter) and Chris Gayle (crew chief) kept me calm,” Nemechek said. “I’ve grown a lot as a driver. I’ve been put in positions like that a lot in the Truck Series.”
Restarting 17th, Nemechek made it up to seventh when the caution flag waved with 28 laps left when Brandon Brown crashed down the backstretch. That set up another round of pit stops, with Hemric leading nearly all of the leaders down pit road.
Nemechek’s crew, led by Gayle, opted to gamble by taking two tires. That was enough to get the No. 54 off pit road first ahead of Hemric. Harrison Burton opted not to pit and inherited the lead for the restart.
The race resumed with 21 laps left and after a brief fight with Burton, Nemechek regained the race lead. Hemric quickly followed him past Burton for second, but Nemechek proved again that clean air was king.
With only a few lap cars to dispatch during the final 20 laps, Nemechek cruised to his second Xfinity Series victory.
“Man, I can’t say enough about this whole team. The 54 has been fast every single week,” Nemechek said. “My goal was to win. I had to win to prove to myself that I could do this. It’s just like taking a step back to the Truck Series, I wanted to get back to victory lane.”
Nemechek is the fourth different driver to win in the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota this year, joining Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs and Christopher Bell.
Hemric was the highest finishing driver of the eight still battling for the Xfinity Series championship, but still finds himself two points below the cutoff line with two races left before the finale at Phoenix Raceway.
The runner-up finish was the 10th of Hemric’s Xfinity Series career as he continues to chase his first victory in one of NASCAR’s three national divisions.
“They just made a really good call to take two (tires) there obviously,” Hemric said of Nemechek. “Clean air was so big. We had clean air with our Craftsman Toyota Supra there at one point and it was really good. We were on the tighter side all day, even earlier when the 54 was better than us, he was just a little freer.
“Dave Rogers (crew chief) made good adjustments all day to get it better. Once we got that clean air we were pretty well checked out. The caution came out and they just made a good call to take two (tires). Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”
Noah Gragson finished third, followed by Justin Allgaier and Austin Cindric.