John Hunter Nemechek closes out 2-mile Auto Club with PAG 300 win

Due to a rainout on Saturday, the NASCAR Xfinity Series became the final division to hold a race on Auto Club Speedway in its two-mile configuration. A twelve-lap dash to the finish meant John Hunter Nemechek would be the last to stand in a larger Victory Lane before future celebrations took place in smaller confines of a half-mile short track.

Nemechek held off an onslaught of Chevrolets led by JR Motorsports‘ Sam Mayer and Justin Allgaier to score his third career win in the Xfinity Series and second for Joe Gibbs Racing.

After nearly winning the opener at Daytona, Nemechek started on the front row alongside victor Austin Hill. The lead would change hands twenty-three times, the third most for a non-superspeedway race in Xfinity Series history, among nine drivers.

“I’ve peaked too early in years past, so hopefully we can keep the ball rolling all year long,” said Nemechek. “I’m confident in this whole team, confident in all of our guys—everyone at JGR, the motor shop, Toyota, TRD—just can’t thank everyone enough. I’m so grateful for this opportunity and the plan of stepping back to move back up the ranks is paying off so far.

“To write my name in history as the final winner at this two-mile oval, what a great place. You can run all of the lanes. You slip and slide around. The seams are treacherous, but after Kyle (Busch) won, there’s been a lot of doubt, I feel like, from fans about Ben (Beshore) coming back to be my crew chief. After Kyle won the race, I texted Ben. He came up to the box and I told him that it was our turn to go get one, and now here we are.”

Cole Custer had dominated the race by winning the first two stages, but was knocked out on lap 92 when he slid up into the turn two wall and hit from behind by Austin Dillon. While Custer was able to get his car repaired and continue, he finished a distant twenty-seventh.

Sheldon Creed, nicknamed The Showstopper for his driving style in off-road racing, lived up to the moniker amid a tumultuous day. On lap 45, he attempted to block Josh Berry on the backstretch but instead got turned and sent hurdling towards the inside wall, yet managed to drift the car and only lightly tap the barrier with his rear. Although the save dropped him back, he fought his way through the order and was able to lead fifteen laps, mostly under caution, before electing to stay out for the final restarts. On much older tyres than the rest, Creed quickly slipped again and would finish twenty-third.

Eight cautions for race-related incidents were flown, with Gray Gaulding‘s lap 26 crash being the first.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	2	20	John Hunter Nemechek	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	150	Running
2	22	1	Sam Mayer	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	150	Running
3	3	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	150	Running
4	5	16	Chandler Smith	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	150	Running
5	19	8	Josh Berry	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	150	Running
6	1	21	Austin Hill	Richard Childress Raicng	Chevrolet	150	Running
7	6	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	150	Running
8	15	10	Austin Dillon*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	150	Running
9	25	25	Brett Moffitt	AM Racing	Ford	150	Running
10	23	48	Parker Kligerman	Big Machine Racing Team	Chevrolet	150	Running
11	14	19	Joe Graf Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	150	Running
12	35	11	Daniel Hemric	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	150	Running
13	29	26	Kaz Grala	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	150	Running
14	16	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	150	Running
15	18	38	Kyle Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	150	Running
16	9	92	Josh Williams	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	150	Running
17	17	78	Anthony Alfredo	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	150	Running
18	11	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	150	Running
19	13	18	Sammy Smith	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	150	Running
20	4	31	Parker Retzlaff	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	150	Running
21	20	45	Rajah Caruth*	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	150	Running
22	7	27	Jeb Burton	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	150	Running
23	31	2	Sheldon Creed	Richard Childress Raicng	Chevrolet	150	Running
24	38	91	Ross Chastain*	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	150	Running
25	30	6	Brennan Poole	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	150	Running
26	26	44	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	150	Running
27	8	00	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	149	Running
28	28	28	Alex Labbé	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	149	Running
29	34	35	Joey Gase	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Toyota	149	Running
30	36	4	Bayley Currey	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	149	Running
31	33	07	Blaine Perkins	SS-Green Light Racing	Ford	149	Running
32	37	66	Timmy Hill*	MBM Motorsports	Ford	149	Running
33	10	9	Brandon Jones	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	149	Running
34	32	43	Ryan Ellis	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	149	Running
35	21	02	David Starr	Our Motorsprots	Chevrolet	148	Running
36	24	24	Tyler Reddick*	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	148	Running
37	27	53	C.J. McLaughlin	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Chevrolet	147	Running
38	12	08	Gray Gaulding	SS-Green Light Racing	Ford	26	Accident
DNQ		99	Garrett Smithley	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet
DNQ		74	Ryan Vargas	CHK Racing	Chevrolet

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