The NASCAR Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series raced at different tracks on Saturday, but both had the same constant: a driver winning for the first time in their respective division.
At Richmond Raceway, Chandler Smith led a race-high 83 of 250 laps but faced stiff pressure from his former Truck team-mate John Hunter Nemechek. Smith kept Nemechek at bay on the final restart, which came shortly after a five-car wreck with ten laps remaining, to secure the win seven races into his Xfinity rookie season.
Smith is the second Xfinity rookie to win in 2023 after Sammy Smith at Phoenix three rounds prior. The former could have been the first the week before at Las Vegas when he won the pole and led the most laps but the win slipped away in the closing laps.
“This goes to testimony as to Vegas, dominated that race but didn’t win and said, it was all in God’s timing,” said Smith. “Here we are in Richmond, my favorite race track and we’re sitting in Victory Lane.”
Later in the day at Texas Motor Speedway, Carson Hocevar took advantage of a chaotic finish to visit Victory Lane for the first time. In contrast to Smith winning early into his Xfinity career, Hocevar had fallen short on multiple occasions before finally breaking through in his fifty-ninth career Truck start.
Nick Sanchez was looking to make it a rookie sweep of Saturday’s racing as he led 168 of 172 laps from the pole, but slight contact with Zane Smith as they began the final lap resulted in Sanchez getting loose and sliding through the grass. An attempt to save his truck failed upon being clipped by Hocevar, who was running behind him in third, and he shot into Smith to take them and Derek Kraus out.
Hocevar apologised to Sanchez for the contact, explaining he “just meant to give him a push and he got sideways the second I hit him. I apologise to them, I’ll take the fall for it, I wrecked a Chevy, and I’ll go talk to him about it. He deserved to win for sure.
“But all the times we were the fastest car and I don’t win, this team deserves to win more than anything, I can stop getting the same question asked all the time now. We didn’t deserve to win today but we were in the right spot at the right time.”
The incident came in double overtime, wrapping up a chaotic race with ten cautions excluding the two stage breaks. One such wreck on lap 146 saw Dean Thompson crash into the frontstretch outside wall and come to a rest before being hit by Matt Mills, who was unable to see through the smoke, with Armani Williams and Trey Hutchens drifting into him afterwards while trying to avoid him.
“Just wanna say hope Dean is okay, came out of (turn) 4 checking up and just followed cars in front of me all I seen was grass and smoke and just sliding through it trying to slow down, I couldn’t see there was a car even sitting there,” Mills explained on Twitter. “It may look different but that was my perspective.”
Thompson was taken to hospital where he was evaluated and later released. He will undergo further tests and needs to be cleared by NASCAR before the next Truck race at Bristol on 8 April.
Xfinity race results
| Finish | Start | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Status |
| 1 | 8 | 16 | Chandler Smith | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 250 | Running |
| 2 | 10 | 20 | John Hunter Nemechek | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 250 | Running |
| 3 | 7 | 8 | Josh Berry | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 250 | Running |
| 4 | 21 | 26 | Kaz Grala | Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota | 250 | Running |
| 5 | 22 | 00 | Cole Custer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 250 | Running |
| 6 | 6 | 2 | Sheldon Creed | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 250 | Running |
| 7 | 17 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | RSS Racing | Ford | 250 | Running |
| 8 | 20 | 48 | Parker Kligerman | Big Machine Racing Team | Chevrolet | 250 | Running |
| 9 | 18 | 21 | Austin Hill | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 250 | Running |
| 10 | 11 | 10 | Derek Kraus | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 250 | Running |
| 11 | 32 | 91 | Alex Labbé | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 250 | Running |
| 12 | 16 | 27 | Jeb Burton | Jordan Anderson Racing | Chevrolet | 250 | Running |
| 13 | 1 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 250 | Running |
| 14 | 29 | 38 | Chris Hacker* | RSS Racing | Ford | 250 | Running |
| 15 | 23 | 43 | Ryan Ellis | Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | 250 | Running |
| 16 | 14 | 31 | Parker Retzlaff | Jordan Anderson Racing | Chevrolet | 250 | Running |
| 17 | 3 | 1 | Sam Mayer | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 250 | Running |
| 18 | 34 | 44 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | 250 | Running |
| 19 | 2 | 18 | Sammy Smith | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 250 | Running |
| 20 | 25 | 28 | Kyle Sieg | RSS Racing | Ford | 250 | Running |
| 21 | 9 | 9 | Brandon Jones | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 250 | Running |
| 22 | 24 | 25 | Brett Moffitt | AM Racing | Ford | 250 | Running |
| 23 | 4 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 250 | Running |
| 24 | 5 | 11 | Daniel Hemric | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 249 | Running |
| 25 | 28 | 45 | Leland Honeyman | Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | 249 | Running |
| 26 | 27 | 02 | Blaine Perkins | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet | 248 | Running |
| 27 | 35 | 35 | Joey Gase | Emerling-Gase Motorsports | Toyota | 248 | Running |
| 28 | 19 | 24 | Connor Mosack | Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota | 248 | Running |
| 29 | 33 | 53 | Patrick Emerling | Emerling-Gase Motorsports | Ford | 248 | Running |
| 30 | 37 | 4 | Garrett Smithley | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 248 | Running |
| 31 | 38 | 66 | Mason Maggio* | MBM Motorsports | Toyota | 247 | Running |
| 32 | 36 | 07 | Stefan Parsons | SS-Green Light Racing | Chevrolet | 247 | Running |
| 33 | 26 | 92 | Josh Williams | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 247 | Running |
| 34 | 30 | 6 | Brennan Poole | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 247 | Running |
| 35 | 31 | 08 | Gray Gaulding | SS-Green Light Racing | Ford | 245 | Running |
| 36 | 12 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Jeremy Clements Racing | Chevrolet | 243 | Running |
| 37 | 15 | 19 | Joe Graf Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 236 | Running |
| 38 | 13 | 78 | Anthony Alfredo | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet | 144 | Accident |
| DNQ | 74 | Dawson Cram | CHK Racing | Chevrolet | |||
| DNQ | 96 | Kyle Weatherman | FRS Racing | Chevrolet |
* – Ineligible for points
Truck race results
| Finish | Start | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Status |
| 1 | 5 | 42 | Carson Hocevar | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet | 172 | Running |
| 2 | 14 | 4 | Chase Purdy | Kyle Busch Motorsports | Chevrolet | 172 | Running |
| 3 | 7 | 52 | Stewart Friesen | Halmar Friesen Racing | Toyota | 172 | Running |
| 4 | 3 | 98 | Ty Majeski | ThorSport Racing | Ford | 172 | Running |
| 5 | 9 | 35 | Jake Garcia | McAnally-Hilgemann Racing | Chevrolet | 172 | Running |
| 6 | 25 | 13 | Hailie Deegan | ThorSport Racing | Ford | 172 | Running |
| 7 | 4 | 11 | Corey Heim | TRICON Garage | Toyota | 172 | Running |
| 8 | 26 | 30 | Ryan Vargas | On Point Motorsports | Toyota | 172 | Running |
| 9 | 2 | 51 | Jack Wood | Kyle Busch Motorsports | Chevrolet | 172 | Running |
| 10 | 10 | 99 | Ben Rhodes | ThorSport Racing | Ford | 172 | Running |
| 11 | 27 | 33 | Mason Massey | Reaume Brothers Racing | Ford | 172 | Running |
| 12 | 23 | 02 | Kris Wright | Young’s Motorsports | Chevrolet | 172 | Running |
| 13 | 21 | 88 | Matt Crafton | ThorSport Racing | Ford | 172 | Running |
| 14 | 18 | 38 | Zane Smith | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 172 | Running |
| 15 | 6 | 19 | Christian Eckes | McAnally-Hilgemann Racing | Chevrolet | 172 | Running |
| 16 | 1 | 2 | Nick Sanchez | Rev Racing | Chevrolet | 171 | Accident |
| 17 | 13 | 23 | Grant Enfinger | GMS Racing | Chevrolet | 171 | Running |
| 18 | 19 | 45 | Lawless Alan | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet | 170 | Running |
| 19 | 15 | 24 | Rajah Caruth | GMS Racing | Chevrolet | 169 | Running |
| 20 | 24 | 9 | Colby Howard | CR7 Motorsports | Chevrolet | 169 | Running |
| 21 | 29 | 22 | Josh Reaume | AM Racing | Ford | 168 | Running |
| 22 | 34 | 12 | Spencer Boyd | Young’s Motorsports | Chevrolet | 168 | Running |
| 23 | 12 | 32 | Bret Holmes | Bret Holmes Racing | Chevrolet | 167 | Running |
| 24 | 17 | 17 | Taylor Gray | TRICON Garage | Toyota | 166 | Running |
| 25 | 20 | 43 | Daniel Dye | GMS Racing | Chevrolet | 165 | Running |
| 26 | 8 | 16 | Tyler Ankrum | Hattori Racing Enterprises | Toyota | 164 | Running |
| 27 | 11 | 15 | Tanner Gray | TRICON Garage | Toyota | 161 | Accident |
| 28 | 16 | 5 | Dean Thompson | TRICON Garage | Toyota | 143 | Accident |
| 29 | 32 | 46 | Armani Williams | G2G Racing | Toyota | 140 | Accident |
| 30 | 30 | 14 | Trey Hutchens | Trey Hutchens Racing | Chevrolet | 137 | Accident |
| 31 | 28 | 20 | Matt Mills | Young’s Motorsports | Chevrolet | 134 | Accident |
| 32 | 33 | 25 | Matt DiBenedetto | Rackley WAR | Chevrolet | 122 | Vibration |
| 33 | 31 | 34 | Keith McGee | Reaume Brothers Racing | Ford | 39 | Vibration |
| 34 | 22 | 41 | Chad Chastain | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet | 17 | Accident |
| Wth | 56 | Timmy Hill | Hill Motorsports | Toyota | |||
| Wth | 04 | Kaden Honeycutt | Roper Racing | Ford |