Nemechek Snags Xfinity Series Trophy At Las Vegas

After leading a race-high of 99 laps, John Hunter Nemechek drove his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota into victory lane on Saturday night during The LiUNA! at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

In his second NASCAR Xfinity Series appearance of the season, Nemechek took the checkered flag 4.360 seconds ahead of Stewart-Haas Racing driver and polesitter Cole Custer, who finished second in his No. 00 Ford.

“Hat’s off to my team. There was a point in the race where I didn’t know what to do. It was loose. It was tight. It was just kind of a handful and we had to manage it. They kept working on it all day and I think the track came to us a little bit and they just did a great job,” Custer said.

Nemechek’s triumph at The LiUNA! marks his first Xfinity Series victory since he stepped up to be a full-time Cup Series driver for Legacy Motor Club ahead of the 2024 season. It is also his 10th career win in NASCAR’s second-level national series.

“It’s awesome to come out here and win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with our limited starts, our goal is to win as many as we could. Nothing else matters,” Nemechek said. “We executed pit road really good. The pit crew did a really good job — just executed the last stage when we had to do it. It went green. It feels great to be here in victory lane.”

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chandler Smith finished third in his No. 81 Toyota after winning both stages.

Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill and SHR’s Riley Herbst completed the top five. A.J. Allmendinger, Ryan Sieg, Sammy Smith, Brandon Jones and Justin Allgaier filed into the top 10 in the 200-lap race.

Xfinity Series rookie Hailie Deegan finished 15th — her best result of the season (37th at Daytona, 27th at Atlanta).

Parker Retzlaff and Sam Mayer made contact on lap seven, which resulted in major damage to Mayer’s No. 1 Chevrolet and forced the JR Motorsports driver to log his second DNF in three races. Though he initially returned to the track, Retzlaff also retired early with a fuel pump issue. He finished 35th.

Shane van Gisbergen experienced an engine issue on lap 30, which ended his day.