NASCAR
RIDGEWAY, Va. – Any way you slice it, Saturday night at Martinsville was a clinic from John Hunter Nemechek. After starting second, the No. 20 Toyota took over on lap six and was rarely elsewhere all race long. Sweeping all three Stages and the race, Nemechek takes home one of NASCAR’s greatest trophies, the Martinsville Grandfather Clock. The accolades do not stop there for the 20 however, as he also wins a big payday in the Dash4Cash.
Nemechek’s strongest competition on the paperclip came from teammate Sammy Smith. Each Joe Gibbs Racing driver was going for their second win of 2023, as the 18 was hot on the 20’s tail for most of the night.
One interesting piece of Nemechek’s strategy while leading was seen in his restarts. The 20 would wait until the very last second in the restart zone to fire off, catching his competitors asleep at the wheel. Out front or not, Nemechek was undefeated on every restart.
Even lining up third with 33 laps left, Nemechek was not to be denied, quickly grabbing the lead again and never looking back. To put it bluntly, the 20 was on fire all night long, until this was literally the case. In his post-win burnout, Nemechek’s car caught fire. Much like with Zane Smith at COTA a few weeks ago, this was likely from rubber buildup on the mud flaps being ignited.
As one of the four Dash4Cash drivers entering Martinsville, Nemechek goes home with one of the coolest trophies in racing as well as a $100,000 bonus from Xfinity.
“I’m just grateful for Pye Barker Fire & Safety, Martinsville Speedway actually uses them,” Nemechek said as his car was extinguished. “Thank you to them for all the safety equipment for that amazing burnout that caught on fire. I can’t say enough about this whole team.
“If you’d have asked me yesterday if we could win, I’d have told you we were a 10th-place car in practice. I didn’t think we were really good. Just grateful that the guys made the right adjustments, and gave me a fast car. We’ll go celebrate, we got another Grandfather Clock to bring home.”
Nemechek is amazingly the first driver ever to win all three Stages plus the Dash4Cash bonus. He will try and go two-for-two next week.
Behind Nemechek, the top-10 were: Sammy Smith, Cole Custer, Josh Berry, Brandon Jones, Justin Allgaier, Daniel Hemric, Derek Kraus, Brett Moffitt, and Chandler Smith. Hear from some of these drivers below. The top four drivers are also next week’s four Dash4Cash contestants.
Runner-up tonight @sammysmithSS on racing against teammate @JHNemechek and some contact that stayed respectful with @ColeCuster.
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) April 16, 2023
“That was classic Martinsville.”#NASCAR pic.twitter.com/F3sJZZDofL
3rd-place @ColeCuster on racing hard with @sammysmithSS late but staying clean. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/kY0R9NigwQ
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) April 16, 2023
4th-place. @joshberry recaps holding ground on older tires than the leaders. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/M1oPL7k6ZF
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) April 16, 2023
5th-place and defending Martinsville spring winner @BrandonJonesRac says this was a big step forward for the JRM 9 crew, and thinks in the fall they can be closer to the win. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/AUW4JYyhTr
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) April 16, 2023
From their shortest track to their biggest, up next for the Xfinity Series is Talladega Superspeedway. The Ag-Pro 300 will go green Saturday at 4:00 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. With five Playoff spots already taken, Talladega is a prime opportunity for a sixth different winner.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Noah Lewis/TSJSports
