Nemechek wins in race defined by brutal heat

Nemechek had asked for an adjustment during pit stops prior to the start of Stage 3 and within 10 laps he’d lost the lead to Cole Custer.

Nemechek, however, redeemed himself by reclaiming the lead from Custer on a restart with 46 of 188 laps to go and held off Chandler Smith at the finish by 0.366 seconds for the win at Nashville Superspeedway.

It’s Nemechek’s second win in just nine series starts this year and 11th of his career.

“Man, I thought we gave the race away there at the start of Stage 3. I asked for an adjustment and I probably shouldn’t have,” Nemechek said. “We’ve been close to winning a lot this year in this thing and it looks like we’ve started to capitalize on it, it appears.

“It’s great to get it done here in Nashville.”

Jesse Love, who started from the rear of the field, ended up third, Austin Hill – who also started in the rear – was fourth and Noah Gragson rounded out the top five.

Completing the top 10 were Riley Herbst – who battled the hot temperatures with a malfunctioning cool suit, A.J. Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier, Custer and Sam Mayer.

Several drivers were treated for heat exhaustion on pit road after the race.

Stage 1

Ty Gibbs led every lap on his way to a 1.180-second Stage 1 win over Allmendinger. Brandon Jones was third, Custer fourth and Allgaier rounded out the top five.

Stage 2

Nemechek easily held off Allmendinger by 2.137 seconds to take the Stage 2 win. Custer ended up third, Gibbs fourth and Chandler Smith was fifth.

On lap 71, Nemechek finally ran down Custer and passed him to the inside to claim the lead for the first time in the race.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, all the lead lap cars elected to pit with Nemechek first off pit road. He led Custer and Allmendinger when the race resumed with 91 laps remaining.

On Lap 101, Custer got around Nemechek to return to the lead. With 75 laps to go, Custer remained out front as Allmendinger moved into the runner-up position and Nemechek dropped to third.

Allgaier appeared to get into the left-rear of Gibbs on lap 136 which sent Gibbs’ No. 19 Toyota spinning in Turn 4 to bring out a caution. Chandler Smith also suffered some damage trying to avoid the incident.

All the lead lap cars pit for tires and fuel to make it to the end of the race and Custer was first off pit road. Allmendinger lost seven spots during his stop. Custer led Nemechek and Chandler Smith on the restart with…