Grabbing the lead on an overtime restart as Saturday night’s Alsco Uniforms 250 went six laps past its posted distance, John Hunter Nemechek streaked to his third NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season.
The only time Nemechek led was during the overtime, after a push from Daniel Hemric powered him into the lead on the final restart.
Nemechek won for the first time at Atlanta Motor Speedway and for the fifth time in his career, finishing 0.245s ahead of Hemric. Cole Custer came home third, followed by Kaulig Racing’s Justin Haley, who held the lead for the final restart.
At the start of the race, Nemechek’s car suffered from handling issues, particularly in traffic. But his team made the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota progressively better as the race unfolded.
“I got a huge push from the No. 11 (Hemric) there, so thanks to Daniel for giving me that huge push,” Nemechek said. “Early on, if you had said we would have won the race, I definitely would have told you that wasn’t going to be the case.
“We didn’t have the fastest car tonight, but I’m really proud of this No. 20 team… Man, this is special. I don’t know if the track changed a ton. We just had to make our car better all night. It came down to an overtime finish, and luckily, we were able to execute on that restart.”
Kaulig drivers Haley and Chandler Smith were running 1-2 when Austin Hill spun in Turn 4 on lap 161 to cause the eighth caution and send the race to overtime. Haley chose the outside lane for the restart, with Nemechek to his inside and Smith behind him.