2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Twenty-Five Darlington

Cars in field: 38
Pole: John Hunter Nemechek (20)
Outside pole: Denny Hamlin (19)
Stages: 45-45-57

Caution on lap 11 of 147 for a spin by Sammy Smith (18).

Restarting on lap 16 of 147.

Caution on lap 42 of 147 for a blown right front tire for Josh Williams (92) that took off the right front quarter panel shedding debris.

Stage one ends under caution with John Hunter ‘JHN’ Nemechek (20) at the front of the field.

Restarting on lap 50 of 147.

MRN reports NASCAR is reviewing the restart to determine if JHN jumped the restart. Austin Hill (21) was the control car. NASCAR says restart was good.

Caution on lap 54 of 147 for Anthony ‘FastPasta’ Alfredo (78) losing control with a little help from Sam Mayer (1). He was turned toward the outside wall but managed to get the car going in the right direction.

Restart on lap 58 of 147.

MRN is searching through the field for something to talk about because there are no challenges for the lead, and few battles throughout the field, as the second stage draws to a close.

JHN finishes out front (again) at the end of stage two (0.557 ahead of second position).

So far this has mostly looked like a Saturday afternoon drive. Most of the field has little to gain by racing hard at the end of their regular season. With few positions in the playoffs unclaimed and even fewer 2024 Cup rides as an incentive they’re driving like it’s just another day they can’t compete with the big money Cup teams.

Restarting on lap 95 of 147 with Austin Hill (21) and John Hunter ‘JHN’ Nemechek (20) on the front row again.

Caution on lap 101 of 147 for synchronized spins by Jeremy Clements (51), and Kyle Sieg (28).

Restarting on lap 109 of 147 with Parker Retzlaff (31) and Corey Heim (24) on the front row. They stayed out along with Justin Allgaier (7), Ryan Sieg (39), Sammy Smith (18), Chad Finchum (08), Stefan Parsons (07), Joe Graf Jr. (38), Matt Mills (53). Austin Hill (21) and Denny Hamlin (19) win the race off pit road.

Kyle Larson is on pit road with an engine failure as the field takes the green flag.

Austin Hill (21) and ‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (19) got back to the front of the field on lap 111 of 147. There’s just a huge lack of competition in the Xfinity series field overall. If you’re not Joe Gibbs Racing today you’re trying to catch the cars from JGR.

The team is pushing Kyle Larson’s () car to the garage. It would not re-fire.

“They don’t call him Big Country for nothing. He’s a bit ‘ole farm boy from the state of Georgia.” Dave Moody finding something else to say about Austin Hill leading the race at Darlington.

‘Desperate’ Hamlin (19) has caught Hill (21) and is battling for the lead on lap 120 of 147

TV is focusing on the two-car battle for the lead.

Hamlin takes over the lead from Hill on lap 123 of 147.

Caution on lap 131 of 147 for a spin by Ryan Sieg (39).

Austin Hill (21) and JHN (20) win the race off pit road.

Restarting on lap 137 of 147 with Hill (21) and JHN (20) up front.

JHN gets the early lead on the outside. Hill pulls ahead and slides up in front of JHN just before they reach the start-finish line.

Unfortunately as they’re racing for the lead tv decides to show a hood . They show a bit of the three-car battle for the lead, then show a different view of a hood.

Caution on lap 141 of 147 for a spin by Parker Kligerman (48) with assistance from Sam Mayer (1).

They finally begin to race – only ten laps to go – and television is bored and showing the idiot shots. Maybe they don’t realize they don’t have to endure much more. The shots look like what I imagine a five-year-old with attention issues would choose.

Restarting on lap 146 of 148 (Overtime) with Hill (21), Hamlin (19), and JHN (20) up front followed by Josh Berry (8).

The spin may have knocked Parker Kligerman out of the playoffs. MRN says he went from 20 up to being outside looking in now.

Hamlin gets the early lead.

Hamlin takes the white flag.

Hill (21) and JHN (20) are battling for second letting ‘Desperate’ get away.

‘Desperate’ Denny Hamlin (19) wins.

Parker Kilgerman (48) is driving alongside Sam Mayer (1) to pit road.

Austin Hill (21) said he was having a rough time spinning his tires on restarts. He says he has to go back to the drawing board to figure out if he could do something better to clean the tires.

That was a Saturday afternoon drive – rather boring unless you are driving. I wasn’t driving so it was a boring event overall. Beautiful clear blue skies though. It looked like a nice day to be at the track. When only three of 38 cars can get to the front and race each other

Parker Kligerman (48) is out by one point and Riley Herbst (98) is currently in by one point. On his tv interview Parker said, “I just flat got run over by the 1 car. Sam is a friend of the team; his dad is. He just does dumb stuff like that. I don’t know why. He’s gotta clean it up.” When asked by Dave Burns of NBCSports, “You going to have a conversation with Sam”? Kligerman response, “Hell yeah. Definitely”.

Mayer is basically blaming it on his lack of radio communication. He basically take responsibility for wrecking Kligerman, but puts the majority of the blame on the radio issues and said there were too many things going wrong today that they’re going to have to talk about. He needs to learn how to drive without the creature comforts. He’s a good example of why I think the drivers need to spend a few years in underfunded cars learning how to drive in the worst circumstances before being promoted to the best circumstances, then on to the Cup series to repeat the process. It would allow them – force them to build a fan base while learning to drive before they get to the Cup series – preferably before they get to the Xfinity series. It also might make for more watchable racing.

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2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Twenty-Five Darlington

Next Race: Kansas

GO 7 & 8!!!!