John Hunter Nemechek: Driver, No. 4 Tom Thumb/Albertsons Toyota
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overview:
Event: SpeedyCash.com 220, Race 9 of 23, 147 Laps – 35/35/77; 220.5 Miles
Location: Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth (1.5-mile quad-oval)
Date/Broadcast: May 20, 2022, at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
Nemechek #Back4More in 2022:
Defending race winner John Hunter Nemechek and the No. 4 team turn their focus to Texas Motor Speedway for Friday’s SpeedyCash.com 220. In last week’s Heart of America 200 at Kansas speedway, Nemechek brought home a sixth-place finish, marking the fifth straight race that he has finished sixth or better. In that five-race span, the talented wheelman has moved up three spots in the Championship Standings to second and has cut his deficit down to 20 points behind reigning champion Ben Rhodes.
In NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competition at Texas, Nemechek has six starts. Through his first six starts, Nemechek has compiled one win, 73 laps led, one top-five and two top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.8. In 2021, Nemechek started from the pole and led a race-high 64 laps in route to his fourth win of the season. The talented wheelman was also victorious in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Texas last October, leading a race-high 92 laps behind the wheel of Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 54 Camry en route to his second career series victory. Across four career Xfinity Series starts at the 1.5-mile quad-oval he has one win, 98 laps led, three top-five and four top-10 finishes. In two NASCAR Cup Series starts at Texas, Nemechek has an average finish of 21.7 and earned a best finish of 21st in the 2019 fall event.
Through the first eight races of 2022, Nemechek leads all Camping World Truck Series regulars in average starting position (6.4) and average running position (6.603), is tied for second in top-five finishes (four), and is third in stage wins (three), laps led (157), and driver rating (105.2). Nemechek has also led at least one lap in six out of the first eight events.
Tom Thumb/Albertsons will make their first start in the Camping World Truck Series onboard Nemechek’s No. 4 Tundra TRD Pro at Texas. Albertson Companies is one of the largest food and drug retailers in the United States, with over 2,200 stores in 34 states and are committed to making a meaningful difference, one neighborhood at a time.
Nemechek is a 12-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 132 career starts in NASCAR’s third division, he has compiled five poles, 1,338 laps led, 44 top-five and 71 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.5.
Eric Phillips returned to lead the No. 4 team in 2022. His 42 career Truck Series victories make him the winningest crew chief in Truck Series history, with 34 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 calling the shots for 20 starts at Texas. In those 20 starts, his drivers have tallied four wins (Clint Bowyer – 2006, Kyle Busch – 2011 & 2014, and John Hunter Nemechek – 2021), 340 laps led, seven top-five, and 12 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 11.4.
John Hunter Nemechek, Driver Q&A:
We are halfway through the regular season; how would you grade your season so far?
“Feel like we are in a decent spot. We don’t have as many wins as last year, but we’re headed in the right direction as the season has progressed.”
You won both the Truck Series and Xfinity Series race at Texas last year; how much confidence does that give you going into Friday’s race?
“I like Texas and have had a lot of success there. It will be different this year being a night race, last year they were both day races but it’s a racetrack I’ve always enjoyed going to. We’re hoping to be able to go back-to-back at Texas in the trucks and get the second win of the year.”
How does Texas compare to the other mile-and-a-half tracks on the schedule this year?
“It’s completely different with the repave. The corners are different from one another, Turns 1 and 2 are flat and super wide while Turns 3 and 4 have more banking and it’s a tighter corner. We don’t race there anymore but the track I would compare it to would be Kentucky.”
John Hunter Nemechek Career Highlights:
- Twelve-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 131 career starts in NASCAR’s third division, has compiled five poles, 1,338 laps led, 44 top-five and 71 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.5. 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 61 career XFINITY Series starts, has totaled two wins, one pole, 510 laps led, 17 top-five and 36 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 11.8.
John Hunter Nemechek’s No. 4 Tom Thumb/Albertsons Tundra TRD Pro:
KBM-56: The No. 4 team will unload KBM-56 for Friday night’s race at Texas Motor Speedway. Nemechek piloted KBM-56 once earlier this season at Las Vegas (N.V.) Motor Speedway where he earned the pole and led 23 laps before a late-race incident relegated him to a 25th-place finish. The second-generation driver wheeled KBM-56 in three races in 2021 including his win at Pocono last June.
KBM-56 Performance Profile
KBM Notes of Interest:
- KBM drivers have collected nine wins, three poles, 1,050 laps led, 20 top-five and 35 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 11.0 across 56 starts at Texas Motor Speedway.
- John Hunter Nemechek picked up the organization’s most recent win at Texas in 2021 leading a race-high 64 laps. Owner-driver Kyle Busch has collected four wins (2010, 2014, 2019 and 2020) while Erik Jones (2015), William Byron (2016), Christopher Bell (2017), and Greg Biffle (2019) have each earned one win.
- KBM holds the Camping World Truck Series records for most career wins (93) 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 17 career victories at KBM and was the number for both of the organization’s driver championships.
