The snow vanished on Monday, along with John Hunter Nemechek’s winless run at the Paperclip.
Nemechek bolted to the front on a restart with 31 laps remaining on Monday afternoon and stayed there to win the 20th Alpha Energy Solutions 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway. He finished ahead of Kyle Benjamin by only .106 seconds to secure his first victory and first top-10 finish this season.
It was Nemechek’s fourth top-10 showing at Martinsville, though his first win in 10 attempts.
“Finished second here multiple times,” said Nemechek, 20, who now has six victories in 79 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts. “So tick, tock, we finally got a clock. It’s going to be awesome to take that thing home.”
Brett Moffitt posted his second top-10 finish in two races at Martinsville by finishing third. He was followed by Grant Enfinger and Noah Gragson. Pole-sitter Ben Rhodes led 134 laps en route to winning the first two stages. But a shaky pit stop shortly after capturing the second stage dropped him to 16th place.
The race resumed on Monday under pristine, postcard-worthy conditions that were a far cry from the snowy weather that halted competition on Saturday after 24 laps were completed. Nemechek moved into the lead on lap 220 and maintained that spot through three caution flags. He moved ahead of Benjamin –– who was making his Martinsville debut –– for good during the final restart on lap 244. Benjamin closed to Nemechek’s bumper in the final corner and Nemechek won a drag race to the checkered flag.
“We had a really good truck mostly for long runs,” Benjamin said. “Unfortunately it came down to a short run. It’s Martinsville, so I figured I had to give him a run for his money in the last corner.”
Johnny Sauter started sixth and finished 19th. Sauter leads the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points standings by 29 points over Enfinger and 31 ahead off Moffitt. Myatt Snider had the best finish among rookies, placing sixth after starting ninth.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returns to Martinsville Speedway October 27 for the Alpha Energy Solutions 200. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased by calling 877.RACE.TIX or online at www.martinsvillespeedway.com.
Martinsville Speedway PR (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
