Despite finishing eighth at Dover International Speedway Saturday afternoon, pit stop mistakes prevented John Hunter Nemechek and his No. 23 GMS Racing team from making it to the next round of the playoffs.
Nemechek qualified the No. 23 Chevy 17th for the Xfinity Series race and had some ground to make up in the beginning. Like other drivers though, it didn’t take him too long to get up there in the top-10 before Stage 1 finished. For the first stage, Nemechek finished ninth and he finished seventh in the second stage. Unfortunately, having to make a few extra pit stops at the end hurt his chances of making it to the next round of the playoffs.
However, Nemechek was still upbeat even though failing to make the Round of 8.
“It’s awesome to make the playoffs for Maury Gallagher and the GMS Racing team,” Nemechek said to MRN Radio. “It came down to mistakes. We had a guy down on pit road making a mistake and had a loose wheel. It is what it is, had to pit there again. Came out third or fourth, we were going to be in great shape. It just wasn’t meant to be.”
