John Hunter Nemechek: Driver, No. 4 ROMCO Equipment Co. Toyota
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overview:
Event: Toyota Tundra 225, Race 9 of 22, 41 Laps – 12/14/15; 139.81 Miles
Location: Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas (3.426-mile, 20-turn road course)
Date/Broadcast: May 22, 2021 at 1 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
Neme’chek’ The Facts:
- John Hunter Nemechek and the No. 4 ROMCO Equipment Co. team roll into Circuit of the Americas (COTA) for the inaugural Toyota Tundra 225 at the 3.426-mile, 20-turn road course in Austin, Texas. ROMCO Equipment Co. serves the earth moving, ground engaging and materials handling markets by providing superior quality construction and mining equipment. ROMCO has supported customer’s purchase decisions with outstanding parts and service for over 52 years. ROMCO will also serve as the primary sponsor on the No. 4 Tundra June 12 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
- While he hasn’t competed in a race at COTA, Nemechek made a few laps around the 3.41-mile facility in a No. 4 Mobil 1 show truck in April. Nemechek has six road course starts in the Camping World Trucks. He has one win (Canadian Tire Motorsports Park 2016), three top fives, four top 10s, and 34 laps led. Earlier this season on the road course at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, Nemechek led 14 laps and despite going a lap down when he ran out of fuel near the end of the second stage was able to recover and get back on the lead lap and work his way back through the field to a third-place finish.
- Nemechek currently sits at the top of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points standings leading Ben Rhodes by 46 points. The second-generation driver also leads the series with seven stage victories, five top-five finishes and 338 laps led, and is tied for the series lead with two wins and seven top-10 finishes. In the previous event at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Nemechek rebounded to an eighth-place finish after being involved in a late-race restart incident.
- While the Camping World Trucks were off last weekend, Nemechek spent his off-weekend racing for fellow Toyota team Sam Hunt Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. Nemechek was credited with a 32nd-place finish after a trackbar bolt broke on his Toyota Supra while running inside the top 10 in the race’s final stage.
- The Triple Truck Challenge presented by Womply in the Camping World Truck Series continues this weekend. This year’s program will consist of the events at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, and concludes at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. An extra $50,000 is on the line for each of those events. If Shelden Creed, the Darlington winner, can win at COTA and Charlotte, he will get a $500,000 bonus.
- Nemechek is an eight-time winner in Camping World Truck Series action, winning at least one race each season from 2015 to 2018 for his family-owned team, NEMCO Motorsports, and returning to victory lane this year with KBM. Across 110 career starts in NASCAR’s third division, the second-generation driver has compiled two poles, 947 laps led, 33 top-five and 57 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.8. The North Carolina native qualified for the Camping World Truck Series playoffs in each of his two full-time seasons, finishing eighth in the championship standings in both 2016 and 2017. He was voted the series most popular driver in 2015.
- Eric Phillips returns to KBM to lead the No. 4 team this season. Phillips led the No. 18 team at KBM in its debut season in 2010 and helped build the organization into one of the premier teams in all of NASCAR before departing at the end of the 2014 season. Under his guidance, the No. 18 team won eight races in its inaugural campaign and became the first team in Truck Series history to capture an owner’s championship in its first season of competition. In 2014, the Illinois native led the No. 51 team to an owner’s championship and his team’s 10 wins spearheaded KBM to a single-season Truck Series record of 14 wins. His 39 career Truck Series victories make him the winningest crew chief in Truck Series history, with 29 of those coming while at KBM. On road courses, Phillips’ drivers have scored third-place finishes in both of their road course starts. Erik Jones finished third at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in 2014 and most recently Nemechek finished third at the Daytona Road Course in February.
John Hunter Nemechek, Driver Q&A:
John Hunter Nemechek | Circuit of the Americas Preview
You had a strong run on the road course at Daytona. What is your outlook on the KBM road course program?
“I’m excited to get back to a road course. I feel like we had a really strong Tundra at the Daytona road course. As long as Eric (Phillips) doesn’t run me out of gas this time, I think we will be ok. Overall, it’s a solid program in the rain and in the dry. Who knows what the weather will do this weekend at COTA. It looks like we are going to be rain racing right now. I’m excited to be behind one of these KBM Toyota Tundras.”
You had a chance to go to COTA for a media event. What did you think about the facility? How will trucks race there?
“The facility is pretty amazing being able to kind of see the difference of elevation and how many corners there are. Each corner is unique in its own way. I feel like it puts a whole racetrack together. It’s going to be mentally taxing for sure trying to figure out how your truck will handle in every corner and put everything together to put a perfect lap together in qualifying. Overall, COTA is going to be a really fun race. A lot of different strategies are going to be coming into effect. Hopefully we can come out on top holding a trophy.”
What does it mean to have ROMCO on board your Tundra this weekend at COTA?
“Being able to go to COTA for the first time with them on board, they have a location in Austin, Texas, is really neat. Being able to represent ROMCO Equipment has been a pleasure of mine. I’ve been grateful to have them on board from the truck series when I was at NEMCO all the way up to the Cup Series and now back to the trucks. It’s really neat to support their colors. I know the paint scheme looks awesome. I’m excited to get ROMCO Equipment and all their partners that helped us put this deal together into victory lane. I know that is something I haven’t done with them yet. We need to knock the first one off the list this weekend.”
John Hunter Nemechek Career Highlights:
- Eight-time winner in Camping World Truck Series action, winning at least one race each season from 2015 to 2018 for his family-owned team, NEMCO Motorsports. Across 110 career starts in NASCAR’s third division, has compiled two poles, 947 laps led, 33 top-five and 57 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.8.
- Qualified for the Camping World Truck Series playoffs in each of his two full-time seasons, finishing eighth in the championship standings in both 2016 and 2017.
- Produced three top-10 finishes and an average result of 22.4 while competing for rookie of the year honors in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2020. He recorded a career-best eighth-place finish twice, both coming at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, earned the Sunoco Rookie of the Race award four times and finished 23rd in the championship standings.
- Across 52 career XFINITY Series starts, has totaled one win (Kansas Speedway, 10/20/18), one pole, 225 laps led, 12 top-five and 30 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.0.
- John Hunter Nemechek’s No. 4 ROMCO Equipment Co. Tundra:
- KBM-061: The No. 4 ROMCO team will unload KBM-061 Saturday in COTA. The chassis was previously run on the road course at Daytona International Speedway earlier this year, where Nemechek piloted the chassis to a third-place finish. The chassis has been run three times with an average finish of 9.0.
KBM Notes of Interest:
- KBM drivers have collected one win, 85 laps led, nine top-five and 11 top-10 finishes across 26 starts on road courses. Erik Jones picked up a victory at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario in 2015.
- KBM holds the Camping World Truck Series records for most career wins (85) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). With his victory at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Track, Martin Truex Jr. became the 16th different driver to win a Truck Series event for KBM. In addition to collecting a series-record seven Owner’s Championships, the organization has produced two championship-winning drivers: Erik Jones (2015) and Christopher Bell (2017).
- The No. 4 has 13 career victories at KBM and was the number for both of the organization’s driver championships.
