John Hunter Nemechek: Driver, No. 4 Mobil 1 Toyota
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overview:
Event: Dead on Tools 200, Race 7 of 23, 147 Laps – 45/45/57; 200 Miles
Location: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway (1.33-mile egg-shaped oval)
Date/Broadcast: May 6, 2022, at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
Nemechek #Back4More in 2022:
John Hunter Nemechek and the No. 4 Mobil 1 team return to action this weekend at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway after a two week break in Camping World Truck Series action. After the first six races of the 2022 campaign, Nemechek sits fifth in the Camping World Truck Series championship standings, 62 tallies behind ThorSport Racing driver Ben Rhodes in first. The talented wheelman’s three straight top-five finishes (Circuit of the Americas, Martinsville, and Bristol Dirt) have helped him gain three positions in the championship standings over that span. After six races Nemechek leads all Truck Series drivers in average running position (7.453), is second among Truck Series regulars with 85 laps led and ranks fourth in driver rating (99.1).
The 24-year-old driver will be making just his third start at Darlington in the Camping World Truck Series. In his first two starts, he has tallied 104 laps led, one top-five, and two top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 5.0. In last year’s Spring event, Nemechek led a race-high 65 laps and earned a Stage Two win before getting turned into the outside wall while leading on a restart with just under 30 laps remaining. In three NASCAR Cup Series starts at the “The Lady in Black”, Nemechek has one top-10 finish, when he finished ninth in May 2020. He finished 21st in his lone Xfinity Series start at the South Carolina track.
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 130 career starts in NASCAR’s third division, he has compiled three poles, 1,266 laps led, 43 top-five and 69 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.6.
The Toyota Racing driver made his fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the season behind the wheel of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 GR Supra at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway last weekend. Nemechek was relegated to a 39th-place finish after experiencing brake failure in Stage Two. Nemechek will be pulling double duty at Darlington this weekend, competing in the Xfinity Series with Sam Hunt Racing. In his first two starts piloting the No. 26 Toyota GR Supra, Nemechek has recorded a 12th-place finish at Las Vegas and a fifth-place finish at Phoenix where he led 11 laps.
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 atop the box for five starts at Darlington. In those five starts, his drivers have tallied one win (Kasey Kahne – 2011), 199 laps led, two top-five, and three top-ten finishes resulting in an average finish of 10.2.
The world’s leading synthetic motor oil, Mobil 1, will return as the primary sponsor of the No. 4 Tundra TRD Pro. Mobil 1 recently made the switch from a matte black look to a matte white finishing with the Mobil 1 Pegasus returning to the side of the truck. Mobil 1 will continue the new paint scheme throughout the remainder of the 2022 season.
John Hunter Nemechek, Driver Q&A:
You had really strong runs last year at Darlington, are you looking forward to going back there?
“I’m really looking forward to getting back to Darlington this weekend as I feel like we had two really strong Toyota Tundra TRD Pro’s there last year and had a shot to win both races. After having some momentum on our side the last few weeks, I feel good about our chances going into this weekend.”
You’ll have Xfinity practice and qualifying right before the truck race on Friday, will that extra track time be beneficial?
“I think anytime you can be on track, the more the better. Understanding which way the racetrack is going and how it’s changing, how the rubber is being laid down while lines come into effect, I think that there’s a lot of information that you can learn from that.”
Are you looking forward to having a stretch of eight straight races in the Truck Series?
“Man, I’m excited. I don’t feel like a lot of guys are used to eight weeks in a row in the Truck Series, so I feel like it’s going to take a lot of effort and determination to continue to work hard every single week and put your best foot forward. I feel like you’ll see some teams hidden during certain weeks and not others. We plan on giving it our best shot to go win all eight.”
John Hunter Nemechek Career Highlights:
- leven-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 130 career starts in NASCAR’s third division, has compiled three poles, 1,266 laps led, 43 top-five and 69 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.6. 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 60 career XFINITY Series starts, has totaled two wins, one pole, 510 laps led, 16 top-five and 35 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 11.9.
John Hunter Nemechek’s No. 4 Mobil 1 Tundra TRD Pro:
KBM-53: The No. 4 Mobil 1 team will unload KBM-53 for Friday’s race at Darlington. Nemechek drove this Toyota three times throughout the 2021 season, accumulating 125 laps led and an average finish of 4.3. Nemechek last drove KBM-53 in March at Atlanta where he led 11 laps before being relegated to a 24th-place finish due to a flat tire.
KBM-53 Performance Profile
KBM Notes of Interest:
- KBM drivers have collected one win, 205 laps led, three top-five and six top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 14.0 across 11 starts at Darlington Raceway.
- Kasey Kahne picked up the organizations lone win at “The Lady in Black” in 2011.
- 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 on March 19, 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.
