MARTINSVILLE, Va. — The only thing extinguishing John Hunter Nemechek’s red-hot performance on Saturday evening were the safety workers on the Martinsville Speedway frontstretch, after the 25-year-old lit his rear tires on fire from his victory burnout.
Nemechek, driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra, led a massive 198 of the 250 laps in Saturday’s Call811.com Before You Dig 250 en route to his second win of the season. He also swept all three stages.
On top of the checkered flag, Nemechek secured an extra $100,000 for being the highest running driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Dash 4 Cash prize.
“It was amazing. This car wasn’t very good in practice yesterday – I thought we were like a 10th-to-12th place car,” Nemechek admitted. “I’ll tell you what – everyone went to work on this 20 team for qualifying and this race today. So huge shoutout to the guys on this 20 team. Thankful for the opportunity from Joe Gibbs Racing and TRD, Coy (Gibbs), wish he was here with us. Thank you to Pye Barker Fire & Safety – they actually carry Pye Barker fire extinguishers here in Martinsville.
“It was fitting – after we caught on fire, they put it out. This car was as fast as Xfinity 10G today – dominate, that’s all I can say.”
Nemechek’s teammate and rookie Sammy Smith finished second to secure his third top 10 of the season.
“I think it was really good. I tried to race John Hunter (Nemechek) with a lot of respect to try to make sure one of us got the win, but at the end, I think the 00 (Cole Custer) was kind of beating my bumper off, so I thought it was fair to move him back,” Smith said. “It was good tonight for us. Just thank you to Pilot Flying J, Toyota, TMC, Allstate Peterbuilt Group, Golden Harvest – everybody that helps. We will get it done next week.”
Polesitter Cole Custer brought his Stewart Haas Racing Ford home in third, followed by a pair JR Motorsports Chevrolets in Josh Berry and Brandon Jones.
The final caution of the event came with 28 laps to go, after JGR’s Ryan Truex got in the back of Sam Mayer heading into turn one, sending the No. 1 JRM Chevy into Riley Herbst. Both drivers’ nights would come to an end, with Herbst in 30th and Mayer finishing 31st.
Under caution, Mayer would show his displeasure towards Truex, gesturing the one-finger salute at the No. 19’s race car.
“Just aggressive Martinsville racing I suppose,” Mayer said. “I can’t say anything bad about JGR drivers, so I’ll just keep it to myself. Martinsville, moving on and ready to go.”
On the flip side of the equation, it was a stout night for Kaulig Racing, with all three drivers tallying top 10 runs. 2021 Xfinity Series champion Daniel Hemric led the Kaulig brigade in seventh, followed by part-time Xfinity Series driver Derek Kraus in eighth. Richmond Raceway winner Chandler Smith rounded out the top 10 in tenth.