John Hunter Nemechek has returned to victory lane in the NASCAR Xfinity Series after winning Saturday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Nemechek scored his 10th career Xfinity win after leading a race-high 99 laps. This is his first career Xfinity win at the Nevada track.
Reigning champion Cole Custer finished second, a career-best finish at Las Vegas. Chandler Smith, Austin Hill and Riley Herbst rounded out the top five. AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Sieg, Sammy Smith, Brandon Jones and Justin Allgaier scored top-10 finishes.
MORE: Las Vegas Xfinity results
MORE: Xfinity driver points
Chevrolet celebrated wins at Daytona and Atlanta to start the season but it was Toyota that dominated at Las Vegas. Smith and Nemechek combined to lead 173 of the 200 laps. Nemechek won the race while Smith won the two stages.
Nemechek had the lead during the final stage as drivers prepared for green flag pit stops. Riley Herbst, Austin Hill, Chandler Smith and other lead lap cars stopped before Nemechek in an attempt to leapfrog him during the cycle.
Make that 🔟 wins in the #XfinitySeries for @JHNemechek! 🏁 pic.twitter.com/xws1XsQWWs
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) March 3, 2024
The early stops did not pay off for the other drivers. Nemechek made his pit stop and was able to merge back onto track ahead of Hill, Herbst, and Smith. He built up an advantage of more than four seconds before cycling back to the lead as other drivers ahead of him stopped for fuel and tires. Nemechek then extended his lead to five seconds.
“Man, it’s awesome to come back out here and win in the Xfinity Series with a limited number of starts,” Nemechek told Fox Sports after the race. “Our goal was to come and win as many as we possibly could — nothing else matters.”
Custer made a late run after the pit stops cycled through. He passed Herbst, Smith and Hill to move into second place with five laps remaining in the race. He just did not have enough time to erase Nemechek’s advantage before the end of the race.
Who had a good race: Nemechek led a race-high 99 laps and built up a lead of more than five seconds in the final stage before winning for the 10th time in Xfinity. ... Chandler Smith started on the front row, led 74 laps and won the first two stages. He finished third, his third top-five finish in the season’s first three races. ... Josh Williams gambled by staying out on track while other drivers headed to pit road. He made his stop with 10 laps to go before returning to the track and finishing a season-best 14th. ... Hill finished fourth after winning the first two races of the season. He maintained his points lead. ... Hailie Deegan finished 15th after finishing 37th and 27th in the first two races of the season.
Who had a bad race: Sam Mayer sustained race-ending damage after Parker Retzlaff lost control on Lap 7 and slammed into Mayer’s car. Mayer finished 38th, his second DNF in the first three races of the season. ... Shane van Gisbergen went to the garage on Lap 30 with an engine issue. He finished 37th. ... Retzlaff, fresh off two top-five finishes, sustained damage on Lap 7 and spent the race multiple laps down. He went to the garage in the final stage with a fuel pump issue and finished 35th. ... Sage Karam went to the garage at the start of the race with gearbox issues. He returned to the track and completed 104 laps but finished 36th with further transmission issues.
Next: The Xfinity season continues Saturday, March 9, at Phoenix Raceway (4:30 p.m. ET on FS1).
