Botched restart collects multiple cars in Xfinity Series stack up during Ambetter Health 200

After a long break for oil on the track, the Ambetter Health 200 had a huge wreck during Stage 2 of this NASCAR Xfinity Series race. Short-track racing can get messy at times. There weren’t many issues in Stage 1. However, after a caution resulted in more issues, a long break made some drivers antsy.

Drivers jumped the restart and ran into the back of those in front of them. More than 10 cars took at least a little contact in this incident. When you have these restarts, the leaders can wait until the line to get going. John Hunter Nemechek simply just waited.

At any rate, those behind JHN were not ready for his hesitation and took off. That led to others being spun out and then the Magic Mile had a Xfinity Series traffic jam on its hands. It is easier to tell you that the first 10 cars or so were not involved in the wreck than to mention who was involved.

WHAT. JUST. HAPPENED?!

A HUGE WRECK on the restart! #NASCAR

📺 : @USANetwork pic.twitter.com/vGKqthF5GA

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 15, 2023

Cautions breed cautions and this is a consequence of that. The biggest loser in all of this, besides Parker Kilgerman who was wrecked out of the race, was Justin Allgaier. Not long before this restart, Allgaier had a pit road penalty for being out of his box when his tire changer started to service his car.

So, he went from leader to the rear of the field. That is why Allgaier found himself caught up in this incident here. He had a winning car and now it is going to be a fight to salvage this race and his position in the Xfinity Series standings.

Xfinity Series restart causes chaos

You see these restart wrecks early in the season, it is understandable. In fact, NASCAR started the season with a longer GEICO Restart Zone than last season. However, this caused issues, in the Cup Series and Xfinity Series, with drivers doing this accordion effect. One driver jumps the restart, then the next and so on and so forth. Then you have 10+ cars damaged for no good reason.

NASCAR moved back to the old restart zone length after drivers were unhappy about the change. So, we haven’t really seen something like this in a while. However, Xfinity Series drivers aren’t as experienced, some aren’t racing every week, these things happen.

This gave John Hunter Nemechek a lot of room to work with. He was battling Allgaier throughout the race and wasn’t coming out on the good end of things. With a lot of racing left to go in New Hampshire, this Xfinity Series event has been fun. Lots of intense racing, and lots of strategy calls.

That restart wreck tore up a lot of race cars, but most were able to keep on racing. This is going to likely get messier as these drivers get desperate for points, wins, and a spot in the Xfinity Series playoffs.