John Hunter Nemechek scores second career win at Texas Motor Speedway

Here are some takeaways from a 99 degree race that set a NASCAR record for being the hottest Xfinity Series event at Texas Motor Speedway.

Issues derailed several playoff drivers at Texas

Perfection is the key to moving through the rounds of the NASCAR playoffs, regardless of series. Every driver and crew chief expresses this opinion throughout the regular season and into the playoffs. Not many actually achieve their goal.

The playoff race at Texas was the latest example. Sam Mayer got loose on the opening lap and slammed into the wall. He ended the race in last place after telling NBC Sports that he needed a “par” day to set himself up for the Roval. This was his second consecutive DNF of the playoffs.

Daniel Hemric dipped into the infield grass while poking the nose of his No. 10 to the inside of Sammy Smith. He damaged his splitter and had to make 11 trips down pit road. He then ended the day in the garage after hitting the wall in the final stage.

The issues continued with loose lugnuts on Jeb Burton’s car leading to a lost wheel and a damaged track bar. He had worked his way into the top 10 with a brand-new car, but he fell further below the playoff cutline.

Mistakes also impacted playoff drivers who were minding their own business. Justin Allgaier fell outside of the top 15 after contact from Chandler Smith got him loose. He was able to recover and take the lead once again during the final stage. A mistake from Kligerman then sent him up into the outside wall. He still salvaged a fifth-place finish after sweeping the first two stages.

A mistake by Trevor Bayne started a wreck that collected both Josh Berry and Austin Hill. The regular-season champion was able to drive his damaged car to a seventh-place finish but Berry ended the day outside of the top 25.

“On the restart with Josh on the outside, I just had to lift a little early and when I did to unlock the rear end, I got loose,” Bayne told NBC Sports.

“He gave me room, and I hate it for him, because he did. He moved up a lane. Still slid up and got his left rear, and when we made contact, we were both going around. It’s pretty unfortunate.”

The elimination race at the Charlotte Roval is the final opportunity for championship-hopeful drivers to join Allgaier, John Hunter Nemechek and Custer in the Round of 8.

Avoiding mistakes on Oct. 7 will be a crucial part of this process considering that it is the final opportunity to keep in the championship hunt.

A new opportunity awaits the playoff drivers

The final race of the Round of 12 takes place at the Charlotte Roval. This road course is a wild card considering its layout and the fact that NASCAR brought back the stage break cautions after ditching them in the regular season.

The mandatory cautions between each stage means that there will be different strategies. The drivers that can clinch a spot in the Round of 8 on points could elect to stay out on the final laps of the first two stages.

The drivers that need a win to reach the Round of 8 could take a different strategy. They could pit before the stages end to score track position for the restarts.

The other wrinkle in the race is that none of the drivers in the field have won at the Charlotte Roval. Chase Briscoe won the inaugural Xfinity race in 2018. AJ Allmendinger then won four straight races at the Roval.

Both drivers are full-time in the Cup Series. They are not allowed to compete in Xfinity races during the playoffs.

This means that there will be a new winner, potentially one that is championship-eligible. Mayer, who won at Road America and Watkins Glen, is one driver that will try to capitalize as he faces a must-win situation.

One race remains in the Round of 12 and only three drivers have secure spots in the Round of 8.

Driver points after Texas | Owner points after Texas

Justin Allgaier won the Xfinity Series race at Bristol. This locked up a spot in the Round of 8. John Hunter Nemechek then won at Texas Motor Speedway and joined Allgaier.

Cole Custer locked up his spot in the Round of 8 with a clean performance at Texas. He scored 17 stage points and finished sixth. He was able to secure his spot on points alone.

Austin Hill is currently in the best position among drivers that don’t have a current spot in the Round of 8. He is 44 points above the cutline. Rookie Chandler Smith is just behind him at 32 points above the cutline.

Hill can clinch his spot in the Round of 8 with 13 points at the Roval. Smith can clinch with 25 points.

Sammy Smith (+18), Sheldon Creed (+9) and Daniel Hemric (+1) are the three other drivers above the cutline heading to the elimination race at the Roval.

Parker Kligerman is one point below the cutline after a second-place finish at Texas in which he scored seven stage points and avoided numerous on-track incidents.

Kligerman had an opportunity to win but “choked” while attempting to pass Allgaier late. He still matched his season-best finish and put himself in contention to move on to the penultimate round.

“Keep it going. Our day will come,” Kligerman told his team over the radio after the race.

Jeb Burton is 19 points below the cutline after a broken track bar ended his day. He finished 31st.

Josh Berry is 27 points below after contact from Trevor Bayne sent him spinning on Lap 99. He finished 27th.

Sam Mayer is 34 points below the cutline after hitting the wall on the opening lap and finishing 38th.

John Hunter Nemechek took advantage of a Texas race that featured 12 cautions. He won and scored a spot in the Round of 8.

Click here to see where everyone finished at Texas.

Click here for the penalty report.

Click here for the cumulative report.

Justin Allgaier swept the first two stages at Texas Motor Speedway. It was John Hunter Nemechek who took the checkered flag for the second time at the 1.5-mile track.

Nemechek took advantage of a late battle between two drivers ahead of him. Parker Kligerman got loose and checked up while Allgaier ran wide and made contact with the wall.

Nemechek, who was on fresh tires, dove to the inside of Kligerman and took the lead. Once he had clean air, he was gone. He went on to win his seventh race of the season while Kligerman finished second.

Sammy Smith, Chandler Smith and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top five. Cole Custer in sixth, Austin Hill in seventh, and Sheldon Creed in eighth were the other playoff drivers scoring top-10 finishes.

Daniel Hemric finished 24th and in the garage. Josh Berry finished 27th. Jeb Burton finished 31st. Sam Mayer finished 38th.

The caution has flown on the restart with 16 laps remaining at Texas Motor Speedway.

Chandler Smith, Kaz Grala and JJ Yeley went three-wide while battling for position. Grala and Yeley made contact.

Yeley’s No. 08 spun up into the path of Grala’s No. 26, which significantly damaged both cars. The other drivers in the field were able to avoid the spinning cars while continuing forward.

This caution was the 12th of the day. It put the Xfinity Series only one caution away from tying the track record set in 2018 after the reconfiguration.

The caution has flown at Texas Motor Speedway and erased Justin Allgaier’s advantage of more than two seconds.

The cause for the caution was debris on the track. A piece of a crush panel was bouncing around on the racing surface. The drivers in the field were able to avoid it.

The caution created a split decision for the drivers in the field. Allgaier stayed out on the track after making an extra pit stop early in the race. Austin Hill remained out and inherited second place.

John Hunter Nemechek pitted from second, followed by Cole Custer, Parker Kligerman, Jeremy Clements, Brandon Jones and several others.

Allgaier will have an opportunity to keep himself in the lead on the late restart. If he can achieve this, he will have to hold off the drivers on fresher tires.

The caution has flown on Lap 160 for Daniel Dye spinning in his first Xfinity Series start.

The timing of the incident took place in the middle of green flag pit stops. Justin Allgaier, Austin Hill, Daniel Hemric, JJ Yeley, Kyle Sieg, Ryan Ellis and Anthony Alfredo had yet to make their pit stops.

The rest of the drivers in the field had just completed their stops. This list includes John Hunter Nemechek, who was the leader before the cycle began.

Dye, who was the first driver one lap down, did not receive the free pass because he was the cause of the caution. All of the other drivers had to take the wave around while Allgaier and the others that stayed out made their stops.

The drivers in this group were all able to line back up inside of the top 10 for the restart with under 40 laps to go. Nemechek, Cole Custer, Chandler Smith and Sammy Smith were some of the playoff drivers that had to line up outside of the top eight.

Jeb Burton has gone back to the garage with 70 laps remaining at Texas Motor Speedway.

Burton, who lost a wheel at the end of stage 2, headed back to pit road on Lap 130 with smoke pouring from the No. 27 Chevrolet.

Burton came to a stop by his pit stall before ultimately turning the corner and heading back to the garage. He said over the radio that he had a broken track bar in his car.

Burton had fallen 21 laps behind the leaders early in the final stage as his crew made repairs to the rear of the car. He returned to the track and picked up some positions on other cars that had crashed. He ended the day 31st.

The caution has flown at Texas Motor Speedway after Jeffrey Earnhardt hit the Turn 2 wall for the second time.

The latest incident occurred on Lap 108. The No. 45 got loose and made hard contact with the outside wall. This destroyed the right side of the car and broke the drive shaft.

Earnhardt was unable to make it back to pit road. He had to stop on the track and climb out of the No. 45.

The caution provided an opportunity for a playoff driver to head back to pit road. Josh Berry, who was involved in a multi-car crash at the start of the final stage, returned to his stall so that his team could continue to make repairs to the No. 8.

Jeb Burton also returned to the track 21 laps down after his team made repairs to the No. 27 and replaced the axle cap that was broken near the end of stage 2.

The caution has flown at the start of the final stage at Texas.

Trevor Bayne was the cause for the caution. He got loose on the bottom, which sent him into Josh Berry. Both cars spun and kicked off a multi-car incident.

The crash ended Bayne’s final race of the season. Berry went on the DVP clock, as did Parker Kligerman who somehow squeezed between the No. 8 and the No. 19.

Austin Hill, who lost several positions during the stage break, sustained damage on the right front of the No. 21. Kyle Weatherman spun while trying to avoid the incident and damaged the No. 91.

For Hill, the contact happened after he scored 17 stage points. He will remain above the cutline heading to the elimination race at the Charlotte Roval.

Justin Allgaier has been the driver in control all afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway.

The JR Motorsports driver started from the pole and won stage 1 after leading 45 laps. He briefly lost the lead to Cole Custer during stage 2 but took it back in time to win stage 2 and add another playoff point to his total.

Custer finished the stage in second. Austin Hill, John Hunter Nemechek, Trevor Bayne, Josh Berry, Parker Kligerman, Brandon Jones and Sammy Smith rounded out the top 10.

Jeb Burton, who started at the rear of the field, was in position for stage points. He moved inside of the top 10 but fell to 22nd after reporting a vibration. Burton later said that it felt like something in the No. 27 was broken.

The wheel of the No. 27 flew off after the end of the stage. It rolled down the track while the rest of the Xfinity Series drivers prepared to head down pit road.

Sheldon Creed in 17th and Daniel Hemric in 27th also missed out on stage points.

The fifth caution of the day has flown at Texas Motor Speedway.

Jeffrey Earnhardt was the cause for the latest yellow flag. He got loose on Lap 65 while running on the outside lane. He slammed into the outside wall and damaged the No. 45.

Earnhardt said over the radio that he had just gotten loose in the PJ1. The replay showed that this was the case. The footage also showed that Earnhardt nearly spun into the field before the car straightened back out.

Justin Allgaier was back in the lead at the time of the caution. Cole Custer, Austin Hill, John Hunter Nemechek and Trevor Bayne also ran inside of the top five. Daniel Hemric, who damaged his splitter in stage 1, remained outside of the top 30 and two laps down.

The caution has flown early in stage 2 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Brennan Poole and Joey Gase were the cause for the caution. Though they spun at different points of the track.

Poole’s No. 6 went spinning from 18th and went through the grass. It slammed nose-first into the pit wall at Jeffrey Earnhardt’s pit stall.

The collision launched the No. 6 into the air before coming to a rest. Poole came over the radio and told his team that he was ok.

Replay showed that Poole had spun off the nose of Ryan Sieg after he moved down the track.

Gase’s incident was entirely separate. He also spun through the grass before coming to a stop. The team said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that a driver behind Gase had failed to check up. This contact sent the No. 35 spinning but Gase was able to continue in the race.

Justin Allgaier started on the pole at Texas Motor Speedway. He went on to lead every lap before scoring his 10th stage win of the 2023 season.

Allgaier clearly had speed as he built up a lead of more than one second over Austin Hill in second place. This helped him lock up 10 points and another playoff point.

Cole Custer, Trevor Bayne, John Hunter Nemechek, Brandon Jones, Parker Kligerman, Josh Berry, Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith all scored stage points.

Playoff drivers Jeb Burton (14th), Sheldon Creed (24th) and Daniel Hemric (33rd) all missed out on stage points. Sam Mayer finished 38th after crashing on the opening lap.

Allgaier already has a secure spot in the Round of 8 after winning the playoff opener at Bristol. The stage win just helps him stack points ahead of the penultimate round.

Sam Mayer hit the wall on Lap 1 and saw his playoff race at Texas come to an end. Nearly 20 laps later, another playoff driver experienced issues of his own.

Daniel Hemric looked to the left of Sammy Smith while racing at the bottom of the track. He clipped the infield grass and damaged the splitter on the left side of the car. He avoided cutting a tire.

Hemric fell outside of the top 30 after damaging the splitter. He remained on the track instead of heading to pit road for repairs. Team president Chris Rice told Hemric over the radio that he would have to “ride it out.”

The Kaulig Racing driver entered Texas 12 points above the cutline. Where he ends the day hinges on how the other playoff drivers perform.

The caution flew after Riley Herbst and Sam Mayer hit the wall at Texas Motor Speedway. The drivers had not completed two laps after taking the green flag.

The race resumed on Lap 8. Justin Allgaier jumped back to the lead while Trevor Bayne fell back three spots into fourth. Cole Custer moved into second while Austin Hill moved into third.

The caution flew once again on Lap 11. This time, it was for Patrick Emerling and Joe Graf Jr. hitting the wall. Layne Riggs was also involved.

The replay showed Graf getting loose, moving up the track and clipping the rear of Emerling’s No. 53. Both drivers hit the wall. Emerling then took a trip through the grass.

Riggs was caught up in the incident as he had nowhere to go. Emerling hit the No. 11 from behind and ripped the bumper cover off. Riggs also went through the grass before heading to pit road.

Justin Allgaier led the field to the green flag at Texas on Saturday to start the second race of the playoffs. He did not complete a full lap before the caution flew.

Sam Mayer, who entered the race 14 points below the cutline, slammed hard into the outside after getting loose on the outside lane. The race remained green as he limped the No. 1 back to pit road, but the caution flew as another car was slow on the track.

Riley Herbst also sustained damage on the opening lap of the Texas race after hitting the wall in Turn 4. He went behind the wall and was done for the day. Mayer also went to the garage after the No. 1 team examined the damage.

As the Cup Series drivers showed during qualifying and practice, the top of the track is treacherous. Both Christopher Bell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun after going too high on the track.

Teammate incidents were a prominent storyline at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Contact between Sam Mayer and Josh Berry led to a cut tire on the No. 8. This kicked off a crash that collected both drivers, as well as teammate Brandon Jones.

The three JR Motorsports drivers finished 34th, 35th and 36th. Mayer left Bristol 14 points below the cutline. Berry fell to 24 points below the cutline.

Richard Childress Racing teammates Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill made contact on Lap 217, which sent Hill’s No. 21 into the inside wall. The regular-season champion’s day ended with a 33rd-place finish. Creed finished 11th.

The Texas race provides a rebound opportunity for these playoff drivers. They can try to recover some of their lost points while remaining in contention for a spot in the Round of 8. They can also show that teammates can race around each other without issues.

As Hill told NBC Sports’ Marty Snider, he and Creed remain friends after the Bristol crash. He said they handled the situation away from the track. Hill indicated that they would move forward together while both continuing to compete in the playoffs.

Other storylines to watch:

--Trevor Bayne takes on Texas for the 10th time as an Xfinity Series driver. In his previous nine starts, he scored one top-10 finish, one top five and one win (2011). His average finish is 16.6. He has one DNF.

Bayne, who was third-fastest in Saturday’s practice session with a lap of 181.086 mph, will make his final start of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing. This is his final opportunity to score a win and potentially improve his chances of setting up an expanded schedule in 2024.

--Parker Kligerman, the last driver to secure a spot in the playoffs, entered the Round of 12 below the cutline. He scored four stage points early at Bristol but finished 31st and 51 laps behind the leaders after a mechanical issue sent him behind the wall.

Kligerman fell to 22 points below the cutline. He is not yet in must-win territory. He still has an opportunity to capitalize at a track where 11 playoff drivers had issues last season.

If Kligerman can deliver a clean race and a solid finish, he could put himself in contention for a spot in the Round of 8 heading to the elimination race at the Charlotte Roval.

Justin Allgaier will lead the Xfinity Series field to the green flag for Saturday afternoon’s race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Allgaier won the pole with a lap of 185.008 mph. This is his third pole of the season and the 10th of his career.

Trevor Bayne will start second with a lap of 184.919 mph. This is his second time lining up inside the top 10 in his third start of the season.

MORE: Xfinity starting lineup

Bayne is followed by Cole Custer (184.281 mph), Josh Berry (184.181 mph) and Austin Hill (184.080 mph).

Sam Mayer in sixth (183.911 mph), Parker Kligerman in seventh (183.799 mph) and Chandler Smith in ninth (183.156 mph) are the only other playoff drivers inside of the top 10.

John Hunter Nemechek will line up 11th with a lap of 182.217 mph. Daniel Hemric will line up 13th with a lap of 182.162 mph. Sammy Smith will line up 15th with a lap of 181.794 mph.

Sheldon Creed in 24th (178.749 mph) and Jeb Burton in 28th (178.253 mph) will line up furthest back of the playoff drivers.

Layne Riggs, making his Xfinity Series debut with Kaulig Racing, will start from the rear of the field after a crash in practice. He was not able to make a qualifying lap as the No. 11 team made repairs.