John Hunter Nemechek: Driver, No. 4 ROMCO Equipment Toyota
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overview:
Event: XPEL 225, Race 4 of 23,42 Laps – 12/14/16; 143.22 Miles
Location: Circuit of the Americas (Austin, Texas) (3.426-mile 20-turn road course)
Date/Broadcast: Mar. 26, 2022, at 1:00 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
Nemechek #Back4More in 2022
Nemechek and the No. 4 ROMCO team turn their focus to the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) for the second running of the XPEL 225 at the 3.426-mile, 20-turn road course in Austin, Texas. In last year’s inaugural event, Nemechek ran in the top 10 for the majority of the race before an uncontrolled tire penalty set back the No. 4 team. Despite the penalty, Nemechek rebounded for a 12th-place finish.
Through the first three races of the 2022 season, Nemechek currently sits eighth in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series standings, 52 points behind Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) teammate Chandler Smith in first. While he doesn’t have the finishes to show for how he has ran this season, the second-generation driver leads the NASCAR Truck Series with three stages wins and 84 laps led. He has led double-digit laps in each of the first three races.
The 24-year-old driver has made eight road course starts in the Camping World Truck Series. He has tallied one win (Canadian Tire – 2016), 36 laps led, four top-fives and five top-10 finishes with average finish of 9.3. In last year’s inaugural event at COTA, Nemechek started sixth and came home with a 12th-place finish.
ROMCO Equipment Co., a long-time partner of Nemechek, will serve as the primary sponsor on the No. 4 Tundra TRD Pro this weekend at COTA. A Texas tradition since 1961, ROCMO Equipment 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.
Nemechek is an 11-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 in 2021 with KBM. Across 127 career starts in NASCAR’s third division, he has compiled three poles, 1,265 laps led, 40 top-five and 66 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.9.
Eric Phillips returned to lead the No. 4 team in 2022. His 41 career Truck Series victories make him the winningest crew chief in Truck Series history, with 32 of those coming while at KBM including five last year. 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. Phillip’s has been at been at the helm for four road course races with his drivers collecting three top-five and three top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 5.0. His best result was a runner-up finish with Nemechek last year at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International.
John Hunter Nemechek, Driver Q&A:
Despite not having the finishes to show for it is there a silver lining that you’ve led laps and won stages?
“Yeah, we’re definitely fast and have the equipment to run up front. We’ve led some laps and have three out of the six stages wins, which is a huge plus for us considering our finishes so far this season. They haven’t been spectacular or what we wanted but hopefully we can get this bad luck, or little slump, out of the way early and not have it go through the year. We’re working hard and not changing anything, just trying to show up to the race track and win, have good runs, and good results. We’re a little bit back in points right now, but I do foresee coming on strong in the future and moving our way up the points race and getting some wins underneath our belt.”
Do you enjoy road course racing?
“I do, road course racing is a lot of fun. Being able to go to COTA, last year was our first year there and we had a little bit of everything; we had a dry practice day, wet qualifying session, and then the start of the race was raining. Then, it dried out through the race, so we stayed on wet tires. I feel like we learned a lot about all conditions there last year having them all thrown our way. I’m looking forward to getting back there this year, I was able to test there a few weeks ago as well in a TransAm car and had a lot of fun doing that so I’m looking forward to going and chasing our first win of the year at COTA.”
Are you looking forward to having ROMCO back on the truck?
“Yeah, for sure. ROMCO has been a great company, Mr. Mullins and everyone that has been involved has been behind me and have supported me throughout my career. They started out as a really small sponsor and have grown with me through the ranks. Luckily, we’ve been able to get them wins in two of the top NASCAR Series so far and hopefully we can do the same this weekend. I know that they will have quite a few people there; employees and different vendors, so I’m looking forward to meeting everybody and hopefully we can put on a show for them.”
John Hunter Nemechek Career Highlights:
- Eleven-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 127 career starts in NASCAR’s third division, has compiled three poles, 1,265 laps led, 40 top-five and 66 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.9. Registered a career-high and series-leading five victories in 2021 and earned the NCWTS Regular Season championship and third in the final standings after qualifying for the Championship Four for the first time in his career.
- 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
- Across 58 career XFINITY Series starts, has totaled two wins, one pole, 375 laps led, 15 top-five and 34 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 11.6.
John Hunter Nemechek’s No. 4 ROMCO Tundra TRD Pro:
KBM-61: The No. 4 ROMCO Equipment team will unload KBM-61 for Saturday’s race at COTA. Nemechek raced this same Tundra twice on road courses last year with finishes of third at the Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway Road Course and 12th at COTA. The Tundra’s best result was a runner-up finish with Alex Tagliani at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ont. in 2019.
Click Here for KBM-61 Performance Profile:
KBM Notes of Interest:
- KBM drivers have collected one win, 87 laps led, 10 top-five and 12 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 13.1 across 32 road course starts. Erik Jones picked up the lone road course win for KBM at Canadian Tire in 2015.
- KBM holds the Camping World Truck Series records for most career wins (92) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). With his victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway last week, Corey Heim became the 18th 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 16 career victories at KBM and was the number for both of the organization’s driver championships.
