Practice #1 : Martinsville Speedway

• Martinsville Speedway
• Call811.com Before You Dig. 250
• Pole Winner: Cole Custer
• Age: 25
• Team : No. 00 - Haas Automation Ford
• Owner: Stewart-Haas Racing
• Crew Chief: Jonathan Toney
• Cole Custer won the Pole Award for the Call811.com Before You Dig. 250 with a lap of 20.057 seconds, 94.411 mph.
• This is his 14th pole in 118 NASCAR Xfinity Series races.
• This is his second pole and seventh top-10 start in 2023.
• This is his first pole in one races at Martinsville Speedway.
• John Hunter Nemechek (second) posted his eighth top-10 start of 2023 and his first in one race at Martinsville Speedway.
• Sheldon Creed (third) posted his third top-10 start at Martinsville Speedway. It is his sixth in eight races this season.
• Parker Retzlaff (fourth) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

• Saturday, April 15th, 2023
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

John Hunter Nemechek Wins with Dominating Performance in Martinsville

John Hunter Nemechek led a dominating 198 of 250 laps to win Saturday night's Call811.com Before You Dig 250 – besting his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Sammy Smith by 1.518-seconds to earn his second NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the 2023 season and first win in his first series-start at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

The 25-year-old Nemechek, of Mooresville, N.C., took the lead for good on a race restart with 32 laps remaining after winning the first two stages of the race. He, Smith and third place finisher Cole Custer were easily the class of the field all night running some version of 1-2-3 for most of the race.

Smith was able to nudge his way past Custer on the final lap for that runner-up showing.

As Nemechek took his No. 20 JGR Toyota to the front stretch to do a traditional burnout celebration, he literally set the track on fire briefly – perhaps a fitting finale to his hot night behind the wheel. Not only did he win the race, he won the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash incentive prize awarded by series sponsor Xfinity.

"I can't say enough about this whole team, if you would have asked me yesterday if we would have won, I thought we were a 10th place car in practice," said Nemechek, whose car was ironically sponsored by a fire extinguisher company (Pye Barker Fire & Safety). "Just grateful the guys made the right adjustments.

"Let's celebrate."

While Nemechek's car was so good on the night, there was still a lot of compelling wheel-to-wheel competition behind him. Fourth place finisher Josh Berry, for example, led the next highest number of laps (27) – his No. 8 JR Motorsport Chevrolet looking especially strong until a tire situation forced a long pit stop midway through the race. He rallied back through the field, however, to take his seventh-consecutive top-10 finish on the year tying the the longest stretch of his career.

Berry's JR Motorsports teammate Brandon Jones finished fifth – his first top 10 of the season in the No. 9 JRM Chevrolet – followed by another teammate, Justin Allgaier, who was able to keep his No. 7 JRM Chevy in the lead group of cars despite not feeling well himself and finishing the race on much older tires than the rest of the lead group.

Nemechek – who swept both stage wins – Smith, Custer and Berry are now eligible for the next installment of the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash $100,000 award – next week at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. The top finishing driver from among that four gets the big check.

"Congrats to them, they were the best car all night," Smith said.

Kaulig Racing teammates Daniel Hemric and Derek Kraus, AM Racing's Brett Moffitt and Kaulig's Chandler Smith rounded out the top 10.

Austin Hill – who leads all drivers with three wins this season – finished 16th and with Nemechek's win the second-generation driver takes over the points lead by 21 points over Hill.

• Drivers Entered: 39 (1 drivers will not make the race)
• Laps Scheduled: 250
• Margin of Victory: N/A Seconds
• Time of Race: 2 Hours 12 Minutes 50 Seconds
• Average Speed: 59.398
• Cautions: 10 for 82 laps
• Lead Changes: 7
• Green Flag Passes: 1,497 (8.9 passes per green flag lap)

• Martinsville Speedway
• Call811.com Before You Dig. 250
• Race Winner: John Hunter Nemechek
• Age: 25
• Team : No. 20 - Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota
• Owner: Joe Gibbs Racing
• Crew Chief: Ben Beshore
• John Hunter Nemechek won the Call811.com Before You Dig. 250, his fourth victory in 75 Xfinity Series races.
• This is his second victory and seventh top-10 finish in 2023.
• This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in one race at Martinsville Speedway.
• Sammy Smith (second) posted his first top-10 finish in two races at Martinsville Speedway. It is his third top-10 finish in 2023.
• Cole Custer (third) posted his first top-10 finish in one race at Martinsville Speedway.
• Sammy Smith (second) was the highest finishing rookie.
• John Hunter Nemechek won the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash at Martinsville. Nemechek, Cole Custer, Sammy Smith and Jsoh Berry have qualified for the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash at Talladega Superspeedway.