Race Recap | XFINITY 500
SHANE van GISBERGEN
No. 16 Acceptance Insurance Camaro ZL1
- Shane van Gisbergen qualified 29th for the XFINITY 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
- Van Gisbergen battled to maintain position, and on lap 73, the No. 16 Acceptance Insurance team opted to pit under green for fuel and fresh tires. A caution came out on lap 76, which resulted in the No. 16 being scored two laps behind the leader. The call was made to stay out for track position and take the wave around to gain one lap back. Van Gisbergen restarted the stage 34th. He battled to hold the leader off but ultimately ended the stage scored 34th, two laps down to end the stage.
- The No. 16 team opted to take the wave around at the stage break, putting Van Gisbergen one lap down from the leader starting the stage 33rd. A caution quickly came out on the restart, and the No. 16 team came to pit road for fresh tires and fuel placing him 34th for the restart. During a caution on lap 184, the No. 16 team opted to come to pit for a chassis adjustment, fresh tires and fuel. Van Gisbergen restarted the stage, 31st. He reported his Chevrolet was “tight” in the corners, as he battled to gain position. A caution quickly came out after the restart, and the No. 16 Acceptance Insurance team was in the “lucky dog” position, rejoining the field on the lead lap, and opted to come to pit road for more adjustments, fresh tires, and fuel. Van Gisbergen restarted the stage in 30th. Reporting the adjustments the team made to the car were in the right direction, he completed the stage in 25th place.
- The No. 16 team came to pit road at the stage break for another small adjustment, four tires and fuel, slotting Van Gisbergen to start the final stage 24th. Dropping a lap down on lap 344, Van Gisbergen was called to pit on lap 347 for tires and fuel. He rejoined the field 31st. During a green-flag pit-stop cycle on lap 377, Van Gisbergen was scored as high as 12th. A caution came out on lap 398, and No. 16th Acceptance Insurance Chevrolet maintained 12th. During the caution, the No. 16 team came to pit road for four fresh tires and fuel. Van Gisbergen restarted the final stage in 14th place with 93 laps remaining in the race. A long, green-flag run aided Van Gisbergen into taking the checkered flag 12th.
“That was a long race but really fun! My Acceptance Insurance Chevrolet felt really good when we were in clean air, and we were even ripping some pretty good lap times. Super stoked with the 12th-place finish. Such a good way to finish with my Kaulig Racing team.” – Shane va Gisbergen
DANIEL HEMRIC
No. 31 High Point Paint Services Camaro ZL1
- Daniel Hemric qualified 15th for the XFINITY 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
- Firing off on the tight side, Hemric only fell one position, before improving by almost half a car length on exits. Hemric avoided a spin in front of him that brought out the first caution on lap 76. He pitted for four tires, fuel, and an air pressure adjustment, before restarting 14th on lap 85. The remaining laps of stage one went green, and Hemric finished the first stage in 13th place.
- Hemric reported that the No. 31 High Point Paint Services Chevy had good maneuverability and front capability. He pitted during the stage break for tires, fuel and a right-front air pressure adjustment, before starting the second stage in 15th place. The field made it four laps, before stacking up and bringing out the next caution. Hemric barely made it through unscathed. He stayed out, and restarted 15th. The field went green five laps, before another spin behind Hemric brought out the next caution. Crew chief Trent Owens made the call to pit for tires, fuel, and a left-rear adjustment on the No. 31 Chevy. Hemric restarted 30th and went 20 more laps before the next caution on lap 183. Hemric stayed out, while most of the field in front of him pitted. He restarted 12th with 69 laps remaining in Stage 2. The field went five more laps, before the No. 77 spun Hemric, bringing out the next caution. Hemric pitted for tires and fuel, before restarting in 30th on lap 203. The remainder of stage two stayed green, and Hemric finished in 26th place.
- Hemric pitted during the second stage break for tires and fuel, before starting the final stage in 26th place. As the stage stayed green, Hemric made a scheduled, green-flag pit stop for tires and fuel after falling one lap to the leaders on lap 353. After racing his way back up to 16th, a timely caution came out on lap 397, allowing Hemric to pit under caution for tires and fuel. As the field came to the restart, the caution flag immediately came back out for a tire on track. Hemric restarted in 16th place on lap 413. The race remained green, and Hemric went on to finish in 17th place.
“Really fast No. 31 High Point Paint Services Chevrolet all weekend. We kept our track position and made some gains during the first stage. Getting spun by the 77 set us back a bit. Fortunately, a timely caution and some solid adjustments helped get us some track position back, and we were able to get a top-20 finish out of it.” – Daniel Hemric
About Kaulig Racing
Kaulig Racing™ is a full-time, multi-car NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) team, owned by award winning entrepreneur, Matt Kaulig. Established in 2016, Kaulig Racing™ has earned 23 NXS wins, made the NXS Playoffs consecutively each season since the playoff system started, and won two regular-season championships. In 2021, the team competed in select NCS events, before expanding to a two-car, full-time NCS team in 2022 and adding a third, part-time entry during the 2023 season. Since its first NCS start in 2021, the team has earned two wins. Kaulig Racing is currently fielding two full-time entries in the NCS and continues to field three full-time NXS entries, with a part-time fourth entry at select events. To learn more about the team, visit kauligracing.com.
