Double meaning
Kansas a special place for Nemechek’s breakthrough
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — John Hunter Nemechek’s father first brought him to victory lane at Kansas Speedway almost 15 years ago, when “Front Row” Joe Nemechek swept the weekend’s races in NASCAR’s top two series.
His boy drove himself there Saturday. The younger Nemechek overcame a couple of late mistakes, then drove away from title contender Daniel Hemric to earn his first Xfinity Series win. Hemric finished second, and the rest of the playoff field received a major shakeup after a crash on the opening lap.
“It means a lot, especially at Kansas. I forget how old I was when my dad swept the weekend, so it was pretty special,” Nemechek said. “The first one is the hardest to get, so hopefully we can go on.”
The green flag had just dropped on the first race in the third round of the playoffs when Justin Allgaier’s car made contact with Christopher Bell’s car, which backed into the wall. Those two playoff drivers’ crash collected six more cars, including fellow contenders Austin Cindric and Cole Custer.
Allgaier, Bell and Cindric were knocked out of the race. Custer lost his power steering and had to make a series of pit stops, putting him 18 laps down and well out of contention.
Allgaier took the blame for the crash, saying “that was on me.”
“I hate it for those other guys,” he said. “Hopefully we can go to Texas and make up for it.”
Hemric started on the pole, and all that carnage happened right behind him. He wound up winning the first stage and leading 128 laps as he chased his first career Xfinity Series win, but he was finally passed by Nemechek with about 30 laps to go and never could give chase.
Elliott Sadler improved his playoff chances in the opening race of the third round by finishing third. He was followed by Shane Lee and fellow contenders Tyler Reddick and Matt Tifft, who all took advantage of the early wreck to give a boost to their hopes of making the Nov. 17 season finale.
Blaney keeps faith
Ryan Blaney felt good about his chances of advancing to the next round of the Cup Series playoffs even before he qualified to start fourth in today’s elimination race at Kansas.
Yes, he is 22 points outside the cutoff line. Yes, he has to leapfrog a couple of other guys to be one of the final eight drivers who will compete during the next three races to be among the final four in the best-finish-wins season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
However, Blaney has always considered this 1.5-mile oval known for high speeds one of his best tracks, even though he has yet to win here in seven career starts. He has led laps four times, was on the pole for the spring race last year and was strong this past spring before ultimately wrecking out.
“This is a good track for us. I can’t think of another track to go to trying to win it,” Blaney said. “We’ve had a good chance, especially the first race this year before I wrecked.”
The trouble for Blaney is just about everybody on the bubble has a reason to believe at Kansas. Clint Bowyer, who is seventh and 21 points inside the cutoff line, is eager to win at his home track. Martin Truex Jr. is currently riding the bubble, 18 points to the good, and swept the races at Kansas last year before finishing second to Kevin Harvick this past spring.
Brad Keselowski is the first driver outside the cutoff, and while he has just three top-five finishes in 17 starts at Kansas, he qualified fifth Friday — right behind Blaney, a fellow Team Penske driver and four points behind him as they jockey for a spot in the next round of the playoffs.
Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman have the most difficult situations among the playoff drivers.
Larson was penalized 10 points after last week’s race at Talladega Superspeedway after his crew used unapproved materials to fix damage on his car. That him in a 36-point hole, an uphill challenge made even more difficult after a wreck in practice forced him into a backup car and will land him at the back of the field for the start.
Bowman is the only driver who mathematically must win to advance.
Others will drive
Spencer Gallagher is ready to be a professional nerd again.
The former Silicon Valley software engineer-turned-driver announced Friday he is stepping out of the Xfinity Series car owned by his father, Allegiant Air chief executive Maurice Gallagher Jr., and into a supervisory role with their GMS Racing Team next season.
“This has been a big decision. It’s something I’ve been thinking about a long, long time,” Gallagher said. “GMS started out surrounded by Spencer Gallagher, but it’s so much more. It’s time to take the next step and see what this team can do.”
The team has fielded entries in the Camping World Truck Series and has had aspirations of competing in the top-tier Cup Series, but Gallagher, 28, said those endeavors and his Xfinity Series ride will be left to other drivers. In fact, the team is already reaching out to candidates for next season, though Gallagher started Saturday’s race at Kansas — he completed 24 laps before a wreck ended his day — and planned to drive in the remaining races on the schedule.
“It’s kind of been a slow, ongoing burn. A couple months back I started sitting down and looking at all the cool technologies and opportunities that exist within this industry,” Gallagher said. “Before I did this I was a professional nerd, and a good one, and I think a lot of my skill sets translate well to other areas of the industry.”
Asked what job that entailed with GMS Racing, Gallagher declined to put a title on it.
“My position at GMS is one of servant. My existence there is to bring others success,” he said with a smile. “You want to give me a title, feel free to invent one.”