2023-09-09 22:51:47
Saturday September 9, 2023 by Julie Bouchard
All three major NASCAR series are in action this weekend at Kansas Speedway. The Cup series will present its race tomorrow afternoon. This Saturday, it was the Xfinity Series drivers who were on track. Contested over 200 laps, the race experienced no less than 10 neutralizations in the first 135 laps, but the last 60 were all run on green. John Hunter Nemechek completely dominated this Xfinity race, winning Segments 1 and 2 and taking his 6th victory of the season in what was the final round of the regular season.
Nemechek (pictured above) led 154 of the 200 laps of the Kansas Lottery 300, and his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was 7.521 seconds ahead at the checkered flag. After taking the lead on lap 96, Nemechek never looked back, giving Toyota its 200th victory in the series.
Brandon Jones finished second after being involved in a multi-car accident following the start of the final leg of the 300-mile race. Sheldon Creed finished third, ahead of Parker Kligerman, who moved into the playoffs in what was his first full season in NASCAR since 2013. He also eliminated an unlucky Riley Herbst (he hit a piece of debris and lost 2 laps) this Saturday and eliminated from the series at the last race of the regular season for a 4th year in a row.
Austin Hill, Brett Moffitt, Derek Kraus, Joe Graf Jr and Kaz Grala rounded out the Top 10. For the full rankings, Click here. The seven-race playoffs open Friday (7:30 p.m.) in Bristol.
Yesterday (Friday evening) the Truck Series race ended in a much more chaotic fashion. Christian Eckes took the lead on the final restart and cruised to victory in the Kansas Lottery 200. With the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series having fewer races on its schedule than Xfinity and Cup, this was already the playoff round of the round of 16 of the end-of-season series.
In a three-way battle for the lead with Corey Heim and Zane Smith, Eckes led only the final two laps to secure his third victory of the season, his first at Kansas Speedway and the fourth of his Truck career. The final lap started with the top three side by side but Smith then went sideways and brushed the wall. He ultimately finished in fifth place. Taylor Gray finished second, 0.363 seconds behind Eckes. Matt DiBenedetto finished third in a valiant effort to earn his spot in the round of 16 in the playoffs.
Only ranked 25th in this race but with 11 points obtained in total from the first two segments, Ben Rhodes won the last qualifying place for the next round of the series, five points ahead of DiBenedetto. The latter will also be absent for the remainder of the season, after announcing that he had decided not to return to the WAR Chevrolet team next season. DiBenedetto added that he is looking for steering wheels in all three of NASCAR’s national series. Matt Crafton was also eliminated from the playoffs after hitting the wall on lap 69 of Friday’s race. He was ranked 33rd with nine laps behind.
Heim, who finished fourth, was leading when the trucks of Rajah Caruth and Tanner Gray collided on lap 127 of 134, causing the fifth and final caution of this race. Carson Hocevar came in sixth, followed by Canadian Stewart Friesen, Nick Sanchez, Tyler Ankrum and Jake Drew. For the complete ranking, Click here.
The next Craftsman Truck Series race is scheduled for Thursday (9 p.m.) at Bristol Motor Speedway. The 200-lap event will open the three-race round of 16, which will determine the final four drivers who will compete for the title in the Nov. 3 finale at Phoenix Raceway.
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