Saturday’s race got off to a chaotic start with eight cautions in the first 100 laps, but the one constant was Nemechek, who was not seriously challenged after taking the lead for the first time on lap 41 of 200.
The race ended with a 50-lap green flag run and Nemechek cruised to a 7.521-second win over Brandon Jones.
Despite collecting a series-leading sixth win of the season, Nemechek came up five points short of winning the regular season title, which went to Austin Hill.
“I don’t know if this makes us the favorite (for the championship) or not,” said Nemechek, who announced earlier this week he would return to full-time competition in the Cup Series in 2024 with Legacy Motor Club.
“It’s been an exciting week but super-pumped to get back in Victory Lane. The guys made great adjustments all day. They brought a really fast hot rod.”
Sheldon Creed finished third in the race, Parker Kligerman was fourth and Hill fifth.
Completing the top-10 were Josh Berry, Brett Moffitt, Derek Kraus, Joe Graf Jr. and Kaz Grala.
Joining Nemechek and Hill in the playoffs will be Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Berry, Sam Mayer, Creed, Daniel Hemric, Chandler Smith and Kligerman, who claimed the final spot over Riley Herbst.
Stage 1
Nemechek passed Allgaier with four laps remaining and held off Custer to take the Stage 1 win. Allgaier was third, Jones fourth and Sammy Smith fifth.
Chandler Smith was forced to take his No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet to the garage with engines issues after 17 laps. Smith’s teammate, Hemric, had to take his No. 10 Chevrolet to the garage with possible engine problems.
Stage 2
Nemechek led all but one green flag lap on his way to a dominant Stage 2 win over Smith. Allgaier was third, Berry fourth and Hill rounded out the top five.
Shortly into the second stage, Custer ran over a tire carcass on the track in Turn 1 and slammed the wall, which brought an early end to his race.
Stage 3
During the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead-lap cars all pit with Nemechek first off pit road.
On the restart on lap 97, Creed got into Sammy Smith entering Turn 3 while they were racing three-wide, which triggered a multi-car wreck that also collected Allgaier and Jones.
Nemechek led Hill and Creed on the restart when the race returned to green with 97 laps remaining.
A caution for a wreck involving Matt Mills and Rajah Caruth sent all the lead-lap cars down pit road with 60 laps to go for new tires and fuel to make it to the end of the race. Nemechek led the way on the restart.
With 40 laps to go, Nemechek remained in command of the race followed by Jones, Berry and Hill.
With 10 laps remaining, Nemechek’s lead had grown to more than five seconds over Jones.
