John Hunter Nemechek leads KBM 1-2-4 finish at Richmond

John Hunter Nemechek earned his second NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win in the last four races and had to hold off his boss Kyle Busch to do so Saturday afternoon. Nemechek scored the victory by a slim .307-seconds over Busch in the ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway.

Nemechek, 23, led a race best 114 of the 250 laps in his No. 4 KBM Toyota, reclaiming the lead for good with 17 laps remaining after racing back from a late race pit stop. Busch, who has 12 wins overall at Richmond – six in the NASCAR Cup Series and six in the Xfinity Series – was pushing for his first truck series win at the three-quarter mile track.

The KBM truck team has now won four consecutive races – two for Nemechek (Las Vegas also), Busch (Atlanta) and Martin Truex Jr. (Bristol).

For a while it looked like KBM may earn a sweep – with Nemechek, Busch and teammate Chandler Smith running 1-2-3 in the waning laps, but Tyler Ankrum got around Smith with a handful of laps remaining to take third place. Smith held on for fourth place – the 19-year old’s best finish of the season.

Former series champion Johnny Sauter finished fifth, followed by Todd Gilliland, Ben Rhodes and last year’s Richmond winner Grant Enfinger.  Sam Mayer and Austin Hill rounded out the Top-10. Reigning series champion Sheldon Creed was 11th.

The victory for Nemechek comes just three weeks after his wife gave birth to their first child, daughter Aspen, and they were trackside in the family motorhome for Nemechek’s first win as a dad.

“It’s a never give up attitude,” a smiling Nemechek said after the race. “I just can’t thank Kyle, everyone at Toyota and all our great partners. It’s pretty cool to be able to come out and here do what we did. We had a really fast truck and I’m super proud of all my guys and thankful for them.”

The race featured two very different halves. Defending winner Enfinger led 71 of the first 73 laps and earned the Stage 1 victory – his first of the year – in a clean opening to the event. The first caution was the stage break.

Busch’s team got his truck out first from that opening stage caution period, but Nemechek took the lead from his team owner on a restart at lap 100 and held it for most of the duration of the event. Nemechek won Stage 2, finishing just ahead of Enfinger and claiming his series best sixth stage win.

Nemechek had to really earn the top position from there on out – holding off the field again and again and again. There were seven cautions in the last 110 laps of the race.

Matt Crafton and his ThorSport Racing teammate Johnny Sauter – along with Smith – gambled not to pit late on a caution with 55 laps remaining in the race. Nemechek and Busch and most of the front-runners opted to pit. The KBM teammates restarted ninth and 10th with Nemechek reclaiming the lead with 17 laps to go.

Busch made a run at Nemechek after getting around Smith, but was ultimately unable to get close enough to attempt a winning pass.

“It’s awesome,” Busch said of his truck team’s streak. “I joked with John Hunter at the beginning of the year that if you win one and then I win one and you win one and then I win one – it would be pretty good to go back and forth.

“I didn’t think he was serious, but so far that’s kind of the way it’s going so I guess I get Kansas (win).”

The two-win tally equals the second-generation NASCAR driver’s season best – and this is only the sixth race of 2021. Nemechek now holds a 20-point advantage over fellow two-race winner Rhodes in the championship standings with the next race set for May 1 at Kansas Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). By Holly Cain

Quotes

JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK, No. 4 Safeway Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports

Finishing Position: 1st

You were frustrated last time we talked and then you became a dad two days later. Today, you dominated today’s race. How do put that in perspective?

“Never give up attitude. I just can’t thank Kyle (Busch, team owner), everyone at Toyota, all of our great partners. It’s pretty cool to be able to come out here and do what we were able to do. We had a really fast truck. I’m super proud of all of my guys and thankful for them. Thankful for our partners, Safeway, ACME and all of their partners with them. I know the president is here from Safeway and ACME, so that’s pretty cool to get them a win on their own turf. Thank you for believing in me. It’s pretty cool. Taylor (Nemechek, wife) and Aspen are actually here in the motorhome, so hopefully we can get to celebrate with them. It’s been an amazing time with Aspen so far. This puts a lot of different things in perspective, but I just can’t thank all of my guys, all of our partners, everyone enough for believing in me and giving me this opportunity. It’s two wins. #HereForWins. Let’s go get more.”

What does it mean to be a two-time winner this season?

“It’s just so special. Just thankful for all my guys here. They are awesome and gave me one heck of a Safeway Toyota Tundra. Just can’t thank all of our partners enough for believing in me — Kyle (Busch, team owner) and everybody. I know he tried getting me there at the end and this is the third time we’ve raced against each other this year and I’m one up on him so far in his own equipment so that’s nice. Just super thankful, super blessed. Actually this trophy and flag, before I walked out of the motor home, Taylor (Nemechek, wife) said you brought me home a trophy from Vegas now this is Aspen’s first race so bring her one. We did it.”

What did you think of the aerodynamics of the truck during the race and did you have to chase it during the race?

“Way different than anything I’ve ever experienced or raced here. It took a little bit of adapting, but this Toyota Tundra was rolling. Dominant day again and same truck that we had in Vegas so this is our baby and we’re going to take care of it.”

 KYLE BUSCH, No. 51 Cessna Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports

Finishing Position: 2nd

What more did you need to get up front and battle for the victory?

“Definitely not good enough in the long run, it would just overheat the tires. We tried to free it up and we got loose and that helped us last another five laps, but as soon as I felt tight and saw the 4 (John Hunter Nemechek) wiggle loose, I was like, ’Oh, we don’t have a shot to pass him.’ We hung with him at least. You know what the most discouraging thing about today is? KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) 1-2-4 with three entirely different setups so what do we come back here with? That’s what’s most confusing now to me is the next time back, what do we do?  Think the 4 was just overall better than us. It was fun to race up there with him and fun to race up there with the rest of the guys. I’m glad we could kind of get single-filed out at the end a little bit to where we could race amongst ourselves, but they were just better than us there.”

How happy are you with the performance of Kyle Busch Motorsports this season with four consecutive wins this season?

“It’s awesome. I joked with John Hunter (Nemechek) at the beginning of the year that if you win one and then I win one and you win one and then I win one, it would be pretty good to go back and forth. I didn’t think he was serious, but so far that’s kind of the way it’s going so I guess I get Kansas.”

Results

1. (18)  John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 250.
2. (12)  Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 250.
3. (30)  Tyler Ankrum, Chevrolet, 250.
4. (23)  Chandler Smith #, Toyota, 250.
5. (19)  Johnny Sauter, Toyota, 250.
6. (8)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 250.
7. (1)  Ben Rhodes, Toyota, 250.
8. (3)  Grant Enfinger, Toyota, 250.
9. (40)  Sam Mayer(i), Chevrolet, 250.
10. (2)  Austin Hill, Toyota, 250.
11. (9)  Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 250.
12. (13)  Carson Hocevar #, Chevrolet, 250.
13. (4)  Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 250.
14. (6)  Zane Smith, Chevrolet, 250.
15. (29)  Derek Kraus, Toyota, 250.
16. (25)  Spencer Davis, Toyota, 250.
17. (14)  Hailie Deegan #, Ford, 250.
18. (7)  Matt Crafton, Toyota, 250.
19. (10)  Austin Wayne Self, Chevrolet, 250.
20. (28)  Danny Bohn, Toyota, 250.
21. (34)  Timmy Hill(i), Chevrolet, 250.
22. (27)  Timothy Peters, Chevrolet, 250.
23. (5)  Raphael Lessard, Chevrolet, 249.
24. (11)  Tanner Gray, Ford, 249.
25. (31)  Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, 248.
26. (36)  Jett Noland, Chevrolet, 247.
27. (26)  Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 247.
28. (15)  Chase Purdy #, Chevrolet, 245.
29. (39)  Ryan Reed, Chevrolet, 245.
30. (32)  Keith McGee, Chevrolet, 244.
31. (21)  Cory Roper, Ford, 243.
32. (38)  Norm Benning, Chevrolet, 240.
33. (37)  Josh Reaume, Toyota, 240.
34. (35)  Howie Disavino III, Chevrolet, 221.
35. (22)  Kris Wright #, Chevrolet, Accident, 212.
36. (20)  Codie Rohrbaugh, Chevrolet, Accident, 195.
37. (17)  Brett Moffitt, Chevrolet, Handling, 186.
38. (33)  Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, DVP, 168.
39. (24)  Tate Fogleman, Chevrolet, Accident, 82.
40. (16)  Ryan Truex, Chevrolet, Rear Gear, 44.

Average Speed of Race Winner:  77.072 mph.

Time of Race:  2 Hrs, 25 Mins, 58 Secs. Margin of Victory:  0.307 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  11 for 79 laps.

Lead Changes:  9 among 6 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   B. Rhodes 1-2;G. Enfinger 3-73;K. Busch(i) 74-99;J. Nemechek 100-144;B. Rhodes 145;J. Nemechek 146-197;B. Rhodes 198;M. Crafton 199-209;C. Smith # 210-233;J. Nemechek 234-250.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  John Hunter Nemechek 3 times for 114 laps; Grant Enfinger 1 time for 71 laps; Kyle Busch(i) 1 time for 26 laps; Chandler Smith # 1 time for 24 laps; Matt Crafton 1 time for 11 laps; Ben Rhodes 3 times for 4 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 98,4,51,99,16,42,24,38,19,52

Stage #2 Top Ten: 4,98,99,16,51,21,24,38,19,18