Track: Darlington Raceway, 1.36 Mile Oval
Race: 6 of 38
Event: Toyota 500 (311.4 miles, 228 laps)
John Hunter Nemechek
No. 38 Scag Power Equipment Ford Mustang
Started: 12th
Finished: 35th
Stage One: 39th
Stage Two: 37th
Stage Three: 35th
Following an impressive finish in Sunday’s race and an inverted starting lineup, John Hunter Nemechek started Wednesday’s “Toyota 500” at Darlington Raceway in 12th position. Trouble came early for the Sunoco Rookie-of-the-Year candidate with a spin on Lap 2, which caused heavy damage to the rear of the car. Nemechek would spin again on Lap 11 and later radioed to the team that the car turned on him as soon as he hit the brakes. Nemechek would finish Stage 1 in the 39th position.
Down but not out, Nemechek worked with Crew Chief Seth Barbour to make adjustments to the car’s handling in Stage 2, and take notes for the next time NASCAR returns to the track “Too Tough to Tame.” Unfortunately, the car’s balance was consistently unpredictable and Nemechek took the Stage 2 green-and-white-checkered flag 37th on the leaderboard.
Nemechek hung on and kept his nose clean throughout the remainder of the race despite his car’s handling being unpredictable. Nemechek would finish the rain-shortened evening in 35th place, 6 laps down.
Nemechek on Darlington:
“For as good as our day was on Sunday, we swung to the opposite end of the spectrum tonight. It was a long night. You never want to be that guy who goes out early. Not sure if I cut a tire or just drove it too hard and got loose. I really hate it for my crew and our No. 38 Scag Power Equipment team. These guys have been working their tails off over the last two weeks, and it’s obviously very frustrating to have the kind of race we did tonight. It happens sometimes, but I’m still happy to be here. We’ll take it as a learning experience and move on to Charlotte. Thank you to everyone at Scag Power Equipment and all of our Front Row Motorsports partners for continuing to support us race after race.”
