The official 2023 Call 811 Before You Dig 250 NASCAR XFINITY Series race lineup, determined by qualifying results, shows the starting positions of all drivers at Martinsville Speedway.
Saturday, April 15th, 2023
Martinsville Speedway, Ridgeway, VA
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.
ST | # | DRIVER | MAKE | SPD | TIME | BHND | SPONSOR | TEAM | CREW CHIEF |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 00 | Cole Custer | Ford | 94.411 | 20.057 | 0.000 | Haas Automation | Stewart-haas Racing | Jonathan Toney |
2 | 20 | John Hunter Nemechek | Toyota | 94.331 | 20.074 | 0.017 | Pye Barker Fire & Safety | Joe Gibbs Racing | Ben Beshore |
3 | 2 | Sheldon Creed | Chevrolet | 94.237 | 20.094 | 0.037 | Whelen | Richard Childress Racing | Jeff Stankiewicz |
4 | 31 | Parker Retzlaff | Chevrolet | 94.041 | 20.136 | 0.079 | FUNKAWAY | Jordan Anderson Racing | Joshua Graham |
5 | 1 | Sam Mayer | Chevrolet | 93.808 | 20.186 | 0.129 | Accelerate Pros Talent | Jr Motorsports | Mardy Lindley |
6 | 8 | Josh Berry | Chevrolet | 93.784 | 20.191 | 0.134 | Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats | Jr Motorsports | Taylor Moyer |
7 | 18 | Sammy Smith | Toyota | 93.756 | 20.197 | 0.140 | Pilot Flying J | Joe Gibbs Racing | Jeff Meendering |
8 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | Chevrolet | 93.752 | 20.198 | 0.141 | Chevy Truck Season | Jr Motorsports | Jim Pohlman |
9 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Ford | 93.710 | 20.207 | 0.150 | Monster Energy | Stewart-haas Racing | Richard Boswell |
10 | 9 | Brandon Jones | Chevrolet | 93.692 | 20.211 | 0.154 | Menards / Atlas Roofing | Jr Motorsports | Jason Burdett |
11 | 16 | Chandler Smith | Chevrolet | 93.636 | 20.223 | 0.166 | Quick Tie Products, Inc. | Kaulig Racing | Bruce Schlicker |
12 | 10 | Derek Kraus | Chevrolet | 93.410 | 20.272 | 0.215 | Intl. Order of T. Roosevelt | Kaulig Racing | Alex Yontz |
13 | 11 | Daniel Hemric | Chevrolet | 93.368 | 20.281 | 0.224 | AG1 by Athletic Greens | Kaulig Racing | Jason Trinchere |
14 | 19 | Ryan Truex | Toyota | 93.327 | 20.290 | 0.233 | Toyota Outfitters | Joe Gibbs Racing | Jason Ratcliff |
15 | 21 | Austin Hill | Chevrolet | 93.299 | 20.296 | 0.239 | Bennett Transportation | Richard Childress Racing | Andy Street |
16 | 25 | Brett Moffitt | Ford | 93.239 | 20.309 | 0.252 | AM Technical Solutions | Am Racing | Joe Williams |
17 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | Ford | 93.129 | 20.333 | 0.276 | CMRroofing.com | Rss Racing | Mike Scearce |
18 | 24 | Connor Mosack | Toyota | 92.965 | 20.369 | 0.312 | Toyota Racing Development | Sam Hunt Racing | Kris Bowen |
19 | 26 | Kaz Grala | Toyota | 92.814 | 20.402 | 0.345 | Island Coastal Lager | Sam Hunt Racing | Allen Hart |
20 | 92 | Josh Williams | Chevrolet | 92.646 | 20.439 | 0.382 | Call 811 / Alloy Employer | Dgm Racing | Bryan Berry |
21 | 48 | Parker Kligerman | Chevrolet | 92.588 | 20.452 | 0.395 | Big Machine Racing Spiked | Big Machine Racing | Patrick Donahue |
22 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Chevrolet | 92.285 | 20.519 | 0.462 | First Pacific Funding | Jeremy Clements Racing | Mark Setzer |
23 | 02 | Blaine Perkins | Chevrolet | 92.222 | 20.533 | 0.476 | Ollie's Bargain Outlet | Our Motorsports | Dan Stillman |
24 | 91 | Alex Labbe | Chevrolet | 92.106 | 20.559 | 0.502 | Parking Guidance Systems | Dgm Racing | Mario Gosselin |
25 | 44 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Chevrolet | 92.025 | 20.577 | 0.520 | SQRL / Gas POS | Alpha Prime Racing | TBA |
26 | 53 | Matt Mills | Ford | 92.021 | 20.578 | 0.521 | J.F. Electric | Emerling Gase Motorsports | Rick Bourgeois |
27 | 96 | Kyle Weatherman | Chevrolet | 91.936 | 20.597 | 0.540 | Fanttik/BrewHaha | Frs Racing | Matt Weber |
28 | 28 | Kyle Sieg | Ford | 91.922 | 20.600 | 0.543 | Night Owl | Rss Racing | Brad Parrott |
29 | Dawson Cram | 91.647 | 20.662 | 0.605 | |||||
30 | 45 | Leland Honeyman Jr | Chevrolet | 91.633 | 20.665 | 0.608 | Eighth Order | Alpha Prime Racing | Frank Kerr |
31 | 27 | Jeb Burton | Chevrolet | 91.629 | 20.666 | 0.609 | J.E. Burton Construction | Jordan Anderson Racing | Shane Whitbeck |
32 | 6 | Brennan Poole | Chevrolet | 91.540 | 20.686 | 0.629 | JD Motorsports | Jd Motorsports | Kase Kallenbach |
33 | 74 | Kaden Honeycutt | Chevrolet | 91.536 | 20.687 | 0.630 | Service Master Restore | Chk Racing | Ryan Bell |
34 | 38 | Joe Graf Jr | Ford | 91.421 | 20.713 | 0.656 | Lefcourt Brothers | Rss Racing | Steve Addington |
35 | 43 | Ryan Ellis | Chevrolet | 91.390 | 20.720 | 0.663 | Costa Oil | Alpha Prime Racing | Michael Brandt |
36 | 35 | Patrick Emerling | Toyota | 90.659 | 20.887 | 0.830 | Emerling Gase Motorsports | Emerling Gase Motorsports | Paul Clapprood |
37 | 08 | Gray Gaulding | Ford | 89.279 | 21.210 | 1.153 | Panini NFT | Ss-green Light Racing | Jason Miller |
38 | 78 | Anthony Alfredo | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 20.057 | DUDE WIPES | Bj Mcleod Motorsports | Pat Tryson |
*39 | 4 | Garrett Smithley | Chevrolet | 91.223 | 20.758 | 0.701 | Morooka USA / Black Draft | Jd Motorsports | Wayne Carroll Jr |
*40 | Chad Finchum | 91.205 | 20.762 | 0.705 |
* Did Not Qualify (DNQ) for race.