John Hunter Nemechek spoils the party, wins The LiUNA! at Las Vegas

Chandler Smith wins Stage 1

Cole Custer was the pole sitter, but he wasn’t much of a factor. What we saw were the Toyotas of John Hunter Nemechek and Chandler Smith move up to the front. At times, Riley Herbst, Justin Allgaier, and Austin Hill were involved near the front.

However, it was Chandler who took the win in the first stage. He didn’t have much of a rival in the stage, besides Nemechek his teammate. This track is a favorite for Smith, and he had success here under Kaulig Racing, too.

Smith sweeps the stages

Once again, it was more of the same in Stage 2. Smith and Nemechek were super strong. In fact, Nemechek looked like he was going to go ahead and win the second stage as well. It was a battle between the two JGR cars with Herbst trailing behind.

These Xfinity Series drivers have to be thinking to themselves, “I thought we got rid of JHN!” He won seven races last year and is now full-time in the Cup Series with Legacy Motor Club. Nemechek is talented but Smith was once again able to best him.

The 81 car was able to sweep the stages ahead of the finish to this race. While Nemechek and Smith battled throughout the race, Nemechek started to separate himself in the final stage.

John Hunter Nemechek takes off in final stage

Once this race went green in the final stage, it became clear that green flag stops would need to happen. This is where things really got spread out. Chandler Smith did all he could to maintain position on the track, but Nemechek’s strategy paid off more.

Not only that, Smith had to then deal with Austin Hill and Cole Custer. Due to the green flag stops, Nemechek got out in front with lapped traffic and just put together a great final stage. He weaved in and out and put more than five seconds on second place to finish this race out.

This will be a very nice confidence boost for John Hunter Nemechek. Perhaps he will be ready to put together a strong race in the Pennzoil 400 tomorrow in the Cup Series. Nemechek now has 10 wins in 103 Xfinity Series starts. This likely won’t be his last Xfinity win this season.