John Hunter Nemechek lights up, burns down Martinsville Speedway in Xfinity domination

John Hunter Nemechek put on a Martinsville Speedway masterclass on Saturday as he led 198 of 250 laps to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series‘ Call 811 Before You Dig 250, though he probably would have needed to call 911 for the blaze that followed as his victory burnout caused the rear of his #20 car to ignite.

“This car wasn’t very good in practice yesterday. I thought we were like a tenth-to-twelfth place car,” said Nemechek. “Everyone went to work on this #20 team for qualifying and this race today.

“Thank you to (sponsor) 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.”

Nemechek started second alongside Cole Custer, but the pole winner was a virtual non-factor after leading the first five laps before Nemechek took control. He won two stages and only briefly lost the lead to Justin Allgaier following Jeremy Clements‘ lap 218 crash before holding the top spot from the ensuing restart onwards.

Custer would settle for third behind Nemechek and Sammy Smith, who made it a Joe Gibbs Racing 1–2 finish. The victory was Nemechek’s second of 2023 after Fontana in February.

Interestingly, Nemechek’s burnout fire was the not the first to occur in 2023 as Zane Smith did the same after winning the Craftsman Truck Series race at COTA in March.

Six cautions were flown for crashes, with one of the hardest being a lap 136 incident in which Ryan Ellis clipped Joe Graf Jr. and sent the two into the wall. Graf expressed his frustration over the radio and vowed to race Ellis differently in response, though the two left on a cordial note following a post-race conversation.

Elsewhere in the field, Derek Kraus‘ part-time Xfinity career continued to produce strong results as he finished eighth, making him two-for-two in scoring Xfinity top tens after a tenth in the previous race at Richmond. Kyle Weatherman was thirty-fourth in the début of FRS Racing due to a break in the driveline, while Kaden Honeycutt‘s maiden Xfinity race ended in last with an engine failure.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	2	20	John Hunter Nemechek	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	250	Running
2	7	18	Sammy Smith	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	250	Running
3	1	00	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	250	Running
4	6	8	Josh Berry	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	250	Running
5	10	9	Brandon Jones	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	250	Running
6	8	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	250	Running
7	13	11	Daniel Hemric	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	250	Running
8	12	10	Derek Kraus	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	250	Running
9	16	25	Brett Moffitt	AM Racing	Ford	250	Running
10	11	16	Chandler Smith	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	250	Running
11	4	31	Parker Retzlaff	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	250	Running
12	14	19	Ryan Truex	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	250	Running
13	23	02	Blaine Perkins	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	250	Running
14	31	27	Jeb Burton	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	250	Running
15	19	26	Kaz Grala	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	250	Running
16	15	21	Austin Hill	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	250	Running
17	21	48	Parker Kligerman	Big Machine Racing Team	Chevrolet	250	Running
18	17	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	250	Running
19	20	92	Josh Williams	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	250	Running
20	25	44	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	250	Running
21	36	35	Patrick Emerling	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Toyota	250	Running
22	26	53	Matt Mills*	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Ford	250	Running
23	37	08	Gray Gaulding	SS-Green Light Racing	Ford	250	Running
24	38	78	Anthony Alfredo	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	250	Running
25	30	45	Leland Honeyman	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	250	Running
26	24	91	Alex Labbé	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	250	Running
27	3	2	Sheldon Creed	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	250	Running
28	35	43	Ryan Ellis	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	249	Running
29	32	6	Brennan Poole	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	246	Running
30	9	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	222	Accident
31	5	1	Sam Mayer	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	221	Accident
32	22	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	210	Accident
33	18	24	Connor Mosack	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	205	Running
34	27	96	Kyle Weatherman	FRS Racing	Chevrolet	198	Suspension
35	28	28	Kyle Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	145	Accident
36	29	07	Dawson Cram	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet	143	Accident
37	34	38	Joe Graf Jr.	RSS Racing	Ford	133	Accident
38	33	74	Kaden Honeycutt*	CHK Racing	Chevrolet	83	Engine
DNQ		4	Garrett Smithley	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet
DNQ		66	Chad Finchum	MBM Motorsports	Ford

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