John Hunter Nemechek continued his 2021 season success Saturday afternoon at Richmond Raceway after taking the lead with 17 to go from his teammate Chandler Smith. Nemechek led the final 17 laps en route to his eighth career Truck Series victory.
“It’s a never-give-up attitude,” 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.”
Stages 70-70-110 made up the 250-lap race from Richmond Raceway. Ben Rhodes was on the pole via the qualifying metric system.
Stage 1: Lap 1 – Lap 70
Rhodes led through the first three laps of the stage before Grant Enfinger took the lead on Lap 4. Enfinger maintained the lead throughout the rest of the 66 laps and was only somewhat challenged as the Alabaman went on to take his first stage win of the season. Nemechek, Kyle Busch, Rhodes, Austin Hill, Carson Hocevar, Raphael Lessard, Todd Gilliland, Derek Kraus, and Stewart Friesen were the Top 10. During the stage break, Friesen was penalized for too fast on pit road as Spencer Boyd and Tyler Ankrum were both penalized for an uncontrolled tire.
Stage 2: Lap 79 – Lap 140
Just two cautions slowed the pace during the second stage. The first occurred on Lap 84 when the No. 12 of Tate Fogleman crashed in Turn(s) 3 and 4 after making contact with the No. 1 of Hailie Deegan and the second on lap 100, when the No. 10 of Jennifer Jo Cobb crashed off Turn 4.
Nemechek showed early prominence in the second stage and took the stage victory. Stage 1 winner Enfinger followed closely behind in second, Rhodes was third as Austin Hill fourth, Busch fifth, Zane Smith, Lessard, Gilliland, Kraus, and Chandler Smith rounded out the Top 10. Unfortunately for Hill, he was penalized for speeding on pit road during the stage break and had to restart at the back for the final stage.
Stage 3: Lap 150 – Lap 250
Numerous cautions plagued the final stage which made the race run a little long. In fact, there were seven cautions during the final 100 laps. The final yellow of the race came out with 37 to go when the No. 02 of Kris Wright wrecked on the backstretch. Friesen, Lessard, Gray, and Deegan were involved as well.
The yellow set up a restart with 29 to go with Chandler Smith looking for his first career win. The Talking Rock, Georgia native had a battle of his own as his team owner, Busch, was closing in, as was Nemechek. Smith held the lead momentarily before being passed by eventual race winner Nemechek with 17 to go.
Nemechek made the pass on Smith to bring home his first Richmond win of the year with Busch, Ankrum, Smith and Johnny Sauter rounding out the top five.
There were nine lead changes among six different drivers and 11 cautions for 79 laps. Race winner Nemechek led three times for 114 laps to claim the victory and gained six playoff points to his credit.
Official Results following the ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway:
- John Hunter Nemechek, won Stage 2, led 114 laps
- Kyle Busch, led 26 laps
- Tyler Ankrum
- Chandler Smith, led 24 laps
- Johnny Sauter
- Todd Gilliland
- Ben Rhodes, led four laps
- Grant Enfinger, won Stage 1, led 71 laps
- Sam Mayer
- Austin Hill
- Sheldon Creed
- Carson Hocevar
- Stewart Friesen
- Zane Smith
- Derek Kraus
- Spencer Davis
- Hailie Deegan
- Matt Crafton, led 11 laps
- Austin Wayne Self
- Danny Bohn
- Timmy Hill
- Timothy Peters
- Raphael Lessard, 1 lap down
- Tanner Gray, 1 lap down
- Dawson Cram, 2 laps down
- Jett Noland, 3 laps down
- Spencer Boyd, 3 laps down
- Chase Purdy, 5 laps down
- Ryan Reed, 5 laps down
- Keith McGee, 6 laps down
- Cory Roper, 7 laps down
- Norm Benning, 10 laps down
- Josh Reaume, 10 laps down
- Howie DiSavino III, 29 laps down
- Kris Wright, OUT, Accident
- Codie Rohrabugh, OUT, Accident
- Brett Moffitt, OUT, Handling
- Jennifer Jo Cobb, OUT, Damage Vehicle Policy
- Tate Fogleman, OUT, Accident
- Ryan Truex, OUT, Rear Gear
Up Next: The Camping World Truck Series will head to Kansas Speedway on Saturday, May 1, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET, live on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio.
