John Hunter Nemechek bounces back from early wreck to win Michigan

John Hunter Nemechek‘s Cabo Wabo 250 at Michigan International Speedway began in disaster but ended in dominance. He and Joe Gibbs Racing team-mates Sammy Smith and Ty Gibbs all wrecked together just twelve laps into the race, but Nemechek was able to work his way back through the order to lead the most laps and secure his fifth win of the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.

The accident occurred when Nemechek hit Gibbs’ rear as they exited turn two, with Smith running behind them. As Gibbs went sideways and Nemechek slid into the infield, Smith collided with Carson Hocevar which ended his day. Gibbs gestured at Nemechek in frustration, though he was able to continue the race.

“I have to apologise to Ty and the #19 team. I didn’t mean to get into him,” said Nemechek. “I’m the one that has been preaching about team-mates. It was my fault. I put him in a bad aero spot. It looked like he got loose and then I couldn’t checkup. Just chain reaction type of events, but it is my fault. I take the blame for that. We will move on from it. Him and I will have a discussion about it.”

Despite the incident, Nemechek did not fall a lap down and thus remained in contention. After spending the first stage trying to make up lost ground, he won Stage #2 ahead of Justin Allgaier.

Allgaier, who claimed Stage #1, was eventually taken out of contention after a pit crewman went over the wall too soon during a green-flag stop. With Allgaier no longer a threat, Nemechek dominated the final stage to win.

Besides his fifth triumph of the year, Nemechek also secured the 200th Xfinity win for JGR.

“It’s definitely special being able to win so many races for JGR in the Xfinity Series,” he continued. “I’m just the lucky guy that gets to hold the wheel of these fast Toyota GR Supras every single weekend. Super thankful, super grateful. All the glory to God. Getting 200 is sweet. We’ve been joking about it for the past few weeks, and after the past couple of weeks that we’ve had, we’ve definitely needed to rebound. This is a great rebound.”

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	10	20	John Hunter Nemechek	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	125	Running
2	1	8	Josh Berry	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	125	Running
3	14	9	Brandon Jones	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	125	Running
4	8	19	Ty Gibbs*	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	125	Running
5	4	1	Sam Mayer	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	125	Running
6	5	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	125	Running
7	11	10	Ross Chastain*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	125	Running
8	17	48	Parker Kligerman	Big Machine Racing Team	Chevrolet	125	Running
9	24	31	Parker Retzlaff	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	125	Running
10	23	27	Jeb Burton	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	125	Running
11	3	21	Austin Hill	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	125	Running
12	15	2	Sheldon Creed	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	125	Running
13	22	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	125	Running
14	2	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	125	Running
15	16	11	Daniel Hemric	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	125	Running
16	13	00	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	125	Running
17	12	25	Brett Moffitt	AM Racing	Ford	125	Running
18	18	78	Anthony Alfredo	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	125	Running
19	21	28	Kyle Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	125	Running
20	6	16	Chandler Smith	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	125	Running
21	25	26	Kaz Grala	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	124	Running
22	29	92	Josh Williams	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	124	Running
23	35	43	Ryan Ellis	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	124	Running
24	34	45	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	124	Running
25	33	66	Sage Karam	MBM Motorsports	Ford	124	Running
26	27	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	124	Running
27	28	38	Joe Graf Jr.	RSS Racing	Ford	124	Running
28	32	74	Dawson Cram	CHK Racing	Chevrolet	124	Running
29	37	6	Brennan Poole	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	123	Running
30	26	4	Garrett Smithley	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	123	Running
31	30	07	Stefan Parsons	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet	123	Running
32	7	77	Carson Hocevar*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	123	Running
33	38	02	Blaine Perkins	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	123	Running
34	36	35	Patrick Emerling	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Ford	120	Running
35	20	91	Kyle Weatherman	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	91	Electrical
36	19	24	Connor Mosack	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	39	Accident
37	31	08	Mason Maggio*	SS-Green Light Racing	Ford	16	Accident
38	9	18	Sammy Smith	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	11	Accident
DNQ		44	Mason Massey	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet
DNQ		53	C.J. McLaughlin	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Chevrolet

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points