Practice #1 : Michigan International Speedway

• Michigan International Speedway
• Cabo Wabo 250
• Pole Winner: Josh Berry
• Age: 32
• Team : No. 8 - LubeZone Chevrolet
• Owner: Dale Earnhardt, Jr
• Crew Chief: Taylor Moyer
• Josh Berry won the Pole Award for the Cabo Wabo 250 with a lap of 37.985 seconds, 189.549 mph.
• This is his third pole in 83 NASCAR Xfinity Series races.
• This is his second pole and 10th top-10 start in 2023.
• This is his first pole in three races at Michigan International Speedway.
• Justin Allgaier (second) posted his 16th top-10 start of 2023 and his eighth in 12 races at Michigan International Speedway.
• Austin Hill (third) posted his first top-10 start at Michigan International Speedway. It is his 14th in 21 races this season.
• Chandler Smith (sixth) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

• Saturday, August 5th, 2023
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

John Hunter Nemechek scores milestone win for Joe Gibbs Racing

Overcoming an early wreck, a late caution and an angry teammate, John Hunter Nemechek claimed a milestone victory in Saturday’s Cabo Wabo 250 at Michigan International Speedway.

The NASCAR Xfinity win was the 200^th in the series for Joe Gibbs Racing. For Nemechek, it was the fifth victory of the season and the seventh of his career—all at different tracks.

After Patrick Emerling pounded the Turn 3 wall to cause the seventh and final caution of the race on Lap 112, Nemechek pulled away from pole winner Josh Berry after a restart with seven of the scheduled 125 laps left.

Nemechek crossed the finish line 1.495 seconds ahead of Berry, with Brandon Jones, defending race winner Ty Gibbs and Sam Mayer finishing third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

After he took the checkered flag, however, Nemechek tempered his victory celebration with contrition for a Lap 11 incident where he, Gibbs and fellow JGR teammate Sammy Smith stacked up on the backstretch.

Nemechek slid up behind Gibbs and got Gibbs’ No. 19 Toyota loose. A tap from Nemechek sent his teammate spinning. When Nemechek checked up, Smith rear-ended the No. 20 Toyota and turned Nemechek down toward the apron.

As the cars circled under the ensuing caution, Gibbs pulled up beside Nemechek and expressed his displeasure with an angry gesture.

The wreck knocked Smith’s car out of the race and also critically damaged the No. 77 Chevrolet of Carson Hocevar, who finished two laps down in 32^nd.

“I have to apologize to Ty,” Nemechek said after exiting his car. “I’ve been the one who’s been very vocal about teammates here recently. I put him in a bad aero spot. I got him loose, and he couldn’t check up.

“It’s my mistake. I hate that we both spun early, but at least we were able to rebound. I know he’s not too happy with me, and he has every right not to be.”

Berry’s No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet wasn’t handling well enough to allow the polesitter to take advantage of the final restart.

“We just felt really tight that last run,” Berry said. “I was kind of inching in on him for a while (before the last caution), and then we kind of leveled out… Overall, we were a little too tight to make a run at him there.”

Berry’s teammate, Justin Allgaier, had ample reason to be the race’s most disappointed driver. Allgaier won the first 30-lap stage wire-to-wire, but a slow pit stop during the break cost him eight positions in the running order.

After Allgaier worked his way to second by the end of Stage 2, a pit road penalty for a crewman over the wall too soon during a green-flag stop on Lap 97 sent him deep in the field. Allgaier finished 14^th in arguably the fastest car in the race.

With the victory, Nemechek gained a tie with Austin Hill for the series lead. Nemechek owns the potential tiebreaker with five victories to Hill’s four.

Riley Herbst, Ross Chastain, Parker Kligerman, Parker Retzlaff and Jeb Burton completed the top 10.

• Drivers Entered: 40 (2 drivers will not make the race)
• Laps Scheduled: 125
• Margin of Victory: 01.495 Seconds
• Time of Race: 2 Hours 0 Minutes 4 Seconds
• Average Speed: 124.931
• Cautions: 7 for 31 laps
• Lead Changes: 7
• Green Flag Passes: 2,181 (23.2 passes per green flag lap)

• Michigan International Speedway
• Cabo Wabo 250
• Race Winner: John Hunter Nemechek
• Age: 26
• Team : No. 20 - Mobil 1 Toyota
• Owner: Joe Gibbs
• Crew Chief: Ben Beshore
• John Hunter Nemechek won the Cabo Wabo 250, his seventh victory in 88 Xfinity Series races.
• This is his fifth victory and 16th top-10 finish in 2023.
• This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in four races at Michigan International Speedway.
• Josh Berry (second) posted his third top-10 finish in three races at Michigan International Speedway. It is his 13th top-10 finish in 2023.
• Brandon Jones (third) posted his sixth top-10 finish in seven races at Michigan International Speedway.
• Parker Retzlaff (ninth) was the highest finishing rookie.
• John Hunter Nemechek leads the point standings by 0 points over Austin Hill.