Practice #1

The 2023 Call 811 Before You Dig 250 NASCAR XFINITY Series practice results offer insights into driver performance, including lap times, top speeds, and practice session leaders at Martinsville Speedway.

Call 811 Before You Dig 250

Saturday, April 15th, 2023

Martinsville Speedway, Ridgeway, VA

  • 6 Toyota
  • 25 Chevrolet
  • 8 Ford

  • 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.
A general view of racing at Martinsville Speedway
Martinsville, Virginia - April 15, 2023 : A general view of racing during the NASCAR Xfinity SeriesCall811.com Before You Dig. 250 at Martinsville Speedway.
Jared C TiltonGetty Images
Call 811 Before You Dig 250 at Martinsville Speedway Practice results
# DRIVER MAKE RNK SPD TME BHND LAP LAPS 5- 10- 15- 20- 25- 30- 10-LAP FRM TO
19 Ryan Truex Toyota 9 91.082 20.790 0.196 10 32 20.889 20.912 20.945 20.975 0 0 90.553 3 12
7 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 7 91.179 20.768 0.174 7 35 20.833 20.905 20.952 20.999 21.039 21.074 90.581 4 13
48 Parker Kligerman Chevrolet 21 90.603 20.900 0.306 7 28 20.931 21.121 0 0 0 0 89.657 12 21
25 Brett Moffitt Ford 17 90.851 20.843 0.249 10 22 20.903 20.932 20.963 21.017 0 0 90.463 6 15
27 Jeb Burton Chevrolet 22 90.503 20.923 0.329 4 19 21.309 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
44 Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevrolet 35 89.834 21.079 0.485 11 24 21.216 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
43 Ryan Ellis Chevrolet 25 90.473 20.930 0.336 12 26 21.069 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
08 Gray Gaulding Ford 30 90.064 21.025 0.431 9 16 21.183 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
39 Ryan Sieg Ford 24 90.486 20.927 0.333 7 29 21.009 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
96 Kyle Weatherman Chevrolet 20 90.620 20.896 0.302 16 17 21.216 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
11 Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 3 91.718 20.646 0.052 3 22 20.873 20.937 0 0 0 0 90.461 2 11
6 Brennan Poole Chevrolet 15 90.912 20.829 0.235 2 19 20.951 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
00 Cole Custer Ford 1 91.949 20.594 0.000 2 27 20.668 20.731 20.790 20.848 20.907 0 91.345 2 11
Chad Finchum 34 89.859 21.073 0.479 3 16 21.987 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
4 Garrett Smithley Chevrolet 26 90.451 20.935 0.341 4 21 21.145 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
20 John Hunter Nemechek Toyota 8 91.113 20.783 0.189 9 31 20.820 20.947 21.155 0 0 0 90.405 3 12
26 Kaz Grala Toyota 37 89.363 21.190 0.596 14 30 21.256 21.274 0 0 0 0 89.012 20 29
91 Alex Labbe Chevrolet 40 0.000 0.000 20.594 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
21 Austin Hill Chevrolet 23 90.495 20.925 0.331 4 33 20.982 21.027 21.094 0 0 0 90.059 2 11
9 Brandon Jones Chevrolet 10 91.047 20.798 0.204 6 32 20.816 20.858 20.909 20.948 20.996 21.046 90.785 2 11
51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 27 90.451 20.935 0.341 14 24 20.998 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
38 Joe Graf Jr Ford 29 90.159 21.003 0.409 12 29 21.115 21.236 21.501 0 0 0 89.173 6 15
92 Josh Williams Chevrolet 18 90.833 20.847 0.253 9 23 21.008 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
53 Matt Mills Ford 36 89.744 21.100 0.506 16 18 21.150 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
98 Riley Herbst Ford 11 91.034 20.801 0.207 4 30 20.924 20.957 20.996 21.031 21.067 0 90.358 7 16
78 Anthony Alfredo Chevrolet 38 89.111 21.250 0.656 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
35 Patrick Emerling Toyota 39 89.035 21.268 0.674 17 23 21.314 21.581 0 0 0 0 87.773 2 11
2 Sheldon Creed Chevrolet 16 90.886 20.835 0.241 2 35 20.977 20.997 21.236 21.320 21.314 21.379 90.184 8 17
8 Josh Berry Chevrolet 14 90.951 20.820 0.226 6 16 21.137 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
02 Blaine Perkins Chevrolet 19 90.642 20.891 0.297 15 26 20.975 21.063 21.100 0 0 0 89.905 9 18
28 Kyle Sieg Ford 33 89.915 21.060 0.466 6 25 21.103 21.328 0 0 0 0 88.787 10 19
1 Sam Mayer Chevrolet 4 91.571 20.679 0.084 4 37 20.737 20.836 20.898 20.943 20.992 21.044 90.885 2 11
Dawson Cram 5 91.487 20.698 0.104 3 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
10 Derek Kraus Chevrolet 13 90.977 20.814 0.220 4 27 20.924 21.046 21.056 0 0 0 89.979 2 11
16 Chandler Smith Chevrolet 6 91.478 20.700 0.106 4 35 20.924 20.951 20.980 21.020 21.057 21.104 90.387 2 11
31 Parker Retzlaff Chevrolet 32 89.927 21.057 0.463 16 23 21.209 21.261 0 0 0 0 89.065 13 22
74 Kaden Honeycutt Chevrolet 12 90.990 20.811 0.217 4 20 20.949 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
24 Connor Mosack Toyota 28 90.331 20.963 0.369 5 32 21.055 21.094 21.168 0 0 0 89.770 5 14
18 Sammy Smith Toyota 2 91.860 20.614 0.020 5 29 20.677 20.830 20.883 0 0 0 90.915 2 11
45 Leland Honeyman Jr Chevrolet 31 89.987 21.043 0.449 17 31 21.192 21.291 21.300 0 0 0 88.942 15 24