John Hunter Nemechek: Driver, No. 4 Mobil 1 Toyota
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overview:
Event: O’Reilly Auto Parts 150, Race 15 of 23, 67 Laps – 20/20/27; 151.28 Miles
Location: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio (2.258-mile 13-turn road course)
Date/Broadcast: July 9, 2022, at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
Neme’chek’ the Facts:
John Hunter Nemechek and the No. 4 Mobil 1 team head into Mid-Ohio with their sights set on closing the gap in the Camping World Truck Series regular season championship standings. After a ninth-place finish at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway, Nemechek dropped one spot in the standings and finds himself 21 tallies behind points leader Zane Smith with just two races remaining in the regular season.
Nemechek will be pulling double-duty this weekend at Mid-Ohio, making his first career ARCA Menards Series start behind the wheel of the No. 55 Toyota Camry for Venturini Motorsports. He has previously made just one start at Mid-Ohio in the Xfinity Series, where a mid-race incident relegated him to a 31st-place finish.
The second-generation driver has finished inside the top-10 in 10 out of the last 11 events and leads NASCAR Truck Series regulars in poles (four) and average starting position (6.9). He also ranks second in driver rating (102.3) top-10 finishes (10) and average running position (9.027) and sits fourth in laps led (188).
The Toyota Racing driver spent his off weekend from the Truck Series making his sixth Xfinity Series start of the season piloting the No. 26 GR Supra for Sam Hunt Racing at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin where he brought home an 18th-place finish.
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 and 2022 with KBM. Across 138 career starts in NASCAR’s third division, he has compiled six poles, 1,369 laps led, 46 top-five and 76 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.4.
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 33 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 Series history to capture an owner’s championship in its first season of competition. In 2014, the Illinois native led the first team in Truck 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. Phillips has been atop the box for four Xfinity Series starts at Mid-Ohio with a best finish of 11th in 2015 with Daniel Suarez. Across six Camping World Truck Series starts on road courses, his drivers have tallied 17 laps led, four top-five and 10 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 5.0. His best finish came with John Hunter Nemechek in 2021 at Watkins Glen International where they finished second.
The world’s leading synthetic motor oil, Mobil 1, will adorn the hood of the No. 4 Tundra TRD Pro this Saturday at Mid-Ohio. Mobil 1 returns as the primary sponsor of Nemechek’s Toyota for two more races in 2022 on Oct. 1 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway and Sept. 9 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City.
John Hunter Nemechek, Driver Q&A:
How beneficial will it be running the ARCA race before the Truck Series race this weekend?
“I think running laps this weekend is going to help with the limited track time. I’ve been able to at least run a Xfinity Series race at Mid-Ohio and it’s one of my favorite racetracks to go to. It’s an awesome race and I think reps are huge for this weekend.”
You’ve raced at Mid-Ohio in the Xfinity Series; how does it compare to the other road courses we’ve raced at in the Truck Series this year?
“Mid-Ohio is different than the other road courses we’ve been to this year in the Truck Series to me. There’s some tight roller sections and a couple long straightaways but a unique track in itself.”
In addition to your experience at Mid-Ohio, Eric Phillips (crew chief) has been on the box for four Xfinity Series races there. How beneficial will the experience he has a crew chief there be this weekend?
“I think having experience on the pit box from Eric calling a race there and knowing what the factors are and being there for rain races and dry races depending on the conditions will help. Knowing some of the backstory on Mid-Ohio and just having experience there is going to be very beneficial to go against those who have never been there before.”
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 and returning to victory lane with KBM in 2021 and 2022. Across 138 career starts in NASCAR’s third division, has compiled six poles, 1,369 laps led, 46 top-five and 76 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.4. Registered a career-high and series-leading five victories in 2021, earned the NCWTS Regular Season championship and finished 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 62 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 11.9.
John Hunter Nemechek’s No. 4 Mobil 1 Tundra TRD Pro:
KBM-61: The Mobil 1 team will unload KBM-61 for Saturday’s race at Mid-Ohio. Nemechek has piloted this Tundra to two top-10 finishes this season, finishing second at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) back in March and eighth at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway in June. Overall, KBM-61 has made six road course starts resulting in three top-five and four top-10 finishes with an average finish of 8.2.
KBM-61 Performance Profile
KBM Notes of Interest:
- Across 38 starts on road courses, KBM drivers have earned two wins, 15 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes, with an average starting position of 9.3 and an average finish of 11.7.
- Owner-driver Kyle Busch earned his organization’s most recent road course win in June at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway. Erik Jones picked up KBM’s first road course victory in 2015 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ont.
- KBM holds the Camping World Truck Series records for most career wins (95) 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.
