John Hunter Nemechek claims second win of 2021 at Richmond

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:

  1. John Hunter Nemechek, won Stage 2, led 114 laps
  2. Kyle Busch, led 26 laps
  3. Tyler Ankrum
  4. Chandler Smith, led 24 laps
  5. Johnny Sauter
  6. Todd Gilliland
  7. Ben Rhodes, led four laps
  8. Grant Enfinger, won Stage 1, led 71 laps
  9. Sam Mayer
  10. Austin Hill
  11. Sheldon Creed
  12. Carson Hocevar
  13. Stewart Friesen
  14. Zane Smith
  15. Derek Kraus
  16. Spencer Davis
  17. Hailie Deegan
  18. Matt Crafton, led 11 laps
  19. Austin Wayne Self
  20. Danny Bohn
  21. Timmy Hill
  22. Timothy Peters
  23. Raphael Lessard, 1 lap down
  24. Tanner Gray, 1 lap down
  25. Dawson Cram, 2 laps down
  26. Jett Noland, 3 laps down
  27. Spencer Boyd, 3 laps down
  28. Chase Purdy, 5 laps down
  29. Ryan Reed, 5 laps down
  30. Keith McGee, 6 laps down
  31. Cory Roper, 7 laps down
  32. Norm Benning, 10 laps down
  33. Josh Reaume, 10 laps down
  34. Howie DiSavino III, 29 laps down
  35. Kris Wright, OUT, Accident
  36. Codie Rohrabugh, OUT, Accident
  37. Brett Moffitt, OUT, Handling
  38. Jennifer Jo Cobb, OUT, Damage Vehicle Policy
  39. Tate Fogleman, OUT, Accident
  40. 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.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

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