Chandler Smith edges John Hunter Nemechek for first career Xfinity win at Richmond

Chandler Smith has his first Xfinity Series win.

The driver of the No. 16 car passed John Hunter Nemechek after the second-to-last restart and held him off on the last one to earn a win at Richmond Raceway on Saturday.

The win marked a career milestone that could’ve come a few weeks ago if not for Austin Hill chasing him down at Las Vegas last month.

“This is just a testament to what I said in Vegas,” said Smith, who is 20 years old. “You know, yeah, it sucks, but obviously wasn’t in God’s works for me that day, and I was fine with that. I was good with that.”

He added: “Thankful to everybody at Kaulig Racing for (making) a leap of faith for myself. Going in on a young kid who is reckless and... I mean, I’m just a young kid still. Just really grateful to be here.”

The final restart pitted the fastest car on short runs (Smith) versus the fastest car on long runs (Nemechek). Smith chose the outside line and was able to clear the No. 20 car with four laps to go — and then extended his lead from there.

There were three cautions that emerged in the last 30 laps of Saturday’s race. And Smith prevailed in different ways in each of them.

“The biggest relief was when that first caution came out (on Lap 222),” Smith told reporters in the Richmond Raceway media center Saturday. “I knew we were going to get tires. We had the best car all day for about 30-35 laps. We have some work to do to go back to the shop, figure out how to make our stuff live a little longer and still have good fire off speed. There’s obviously a happy medium there, but I feel like after today I have a good direction to try to give good feedback to my guys to make our program a little bit better at tracks like this.

“So with that being said, when that caution fell and we knew how many laps approximately were going to be left, I knew right then and there that I just had to do my job — be clean, be good — and the cards would play out the way they needed to.”

Smith will also run in Sunday’s Cup race.

The race marked another oh-so-close finish for Nemechek, who ran an admirable race on Saturday. The driver of the No. 20 car found himself in 32nd at the end of Stage 2 — only to rise through the field and then find himself leading before the penultimate restart.

But he couldn’t finish the job and ultimately notched second, just like he did a year ago by less than a car length to Ty Gibbs.

“We weren’t very good on the short run,” Nemechek said. “We had a long run speed car. And we came up from the back to battle for the win, put ourselves in position.”

He added: “I’m disappointed to run runner up again. That’s the last three races here I’ve run second. So it’s frustrating, but we’ll get back to work. We just gotta figure out how to execute a little bit better. The 16 had the best car on the short run.”

Josh Berry finished third. Kaz Grala finished fourth.

Saturday saw 10 lead changes, seven leaders and six cautions.

Justin Allgaier finished 13th but earned the “Dash 4 Cash” title, a midseason program sponsored by Xfinity that rewards drivers for performing well during a select stretch of four races during the Xfinity season. (Allgaier, Smith, Nemechek and Berry all qualify for the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash next week in Martinsville.)

Unofficial results for Xfinity Series at Richmond Raceway

This story was originally published April 1, 2023 at 4:18 PM.

Alex Zietlow

The Charlotte Observer

Alex Zietlow writes about the Carolina Panthers and the ways in which sports intersect with life for The Charlotte Observer, where he has been a reporter since August 2022. Zietlow’s work has been honored by the Pro Football Writers Association, the N.C. and S.C. Press Associations, as well as the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) group. He’s earned six APSE Top 10 distinctions for his coverage on a variety of topics, from billion-dollar stadium renovations to the small moments of triumph that helped a Panthers kicker defy the steepest odds in sports. Zietlow previously wrote for The Herald in Rock Hill (S.C.) from 2019-22. Support my work with a digital subscription