John Hunter Nemechek: Driver, No. 4 GEARWRENCH® Toyota
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overview:
Event: Baptist Health 200, Race 22 of 23 (Race 3 of 3, Round of 8)
134 Laps – 30/30/74; 201 Miles
Location: Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Date/Broadcast: Oct. 22, 2022, at 1 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
Neme’chek’ the Facts:
John Hunter Nemechek and the No. 4 GEARWRENCH team head to Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway for the final race in the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series playoffs. Nemechek enters Saturday’s elimination race seventh on the playoff grid but just five points below the cutoff line for advancing to the Championship 4. The second-generation driver accumulated 19 stage points in the last event at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway after winning the opening stage and finishing second in Stage Two before going for a spin through the infield grass trying to avoid “The Big One” on the last lap, which relegated him to a 24th-place finish.
The 25-year-old driver has made four Truck Series starts at Homestead-Miami, with a best result of second in the 2015 event. In those four starts, he has tallied 24 laps led, one top-five and two top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 8.8. In his two Cup Series starts at the mile-and-a-half facility, Nemechek recorded a best finish of 19th in the June 2020 race. He has finished inside the top-10 in both of his Homestead starts in the Xfinity Series, with a best result of third in 2018.
While it has been nearly two years since Nemechek last raced at Homestead-Miami, in September he participated in a two-day Next Gen Cup Series test session with 23XI Racing at the mile-and-a-half track.
As the Camping World Truck Series season winds down, Nemechek continues to lead Truck Series regulars in poles (seven) and driver rating (104.3), while he ranks second in average running position (8.937) and third in average starting position (7.6) and laps led (372). Overall, on the 2022 Truck Series season he has recorded two wins, nine top-five and 14 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 11.0 across 20 starts.
Nemechek is a 13-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 145 career starts in NASCAR’s third division, he has compiled nine poles, 1,553 laps led, 49 top-five and 80 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.4.
Eric Phillips returned to lead the No. 4 team in 2022. His 43 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 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. At Homestead, Phillip’s drivers have collected one win, four top-five and seven top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 8.3 across 10 starts. He was victorious with KBM owner-driver Kyle Busch at the mile-and-a-half oval in 2010.
The Toyota Racing driver made his 11th Xfinity Series start of the season and eighth with Sam Hunt Racing last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway piloting the No. 26 GR Supra. Nemechek qualified 11th and was competing in the top-10 before a pit road speeding penalty midway through the race set him back, taking the checkered flag in 16th.
GEARWRENCH will make their season debut on board Nemechek’s No. 4 Tundra TRD Pro this weekend at Homestead-Miami. GEARWRENCH® is the No. 1 professional-grade mechanics’ hand tool brand, offering products that are designed and manufactured to meet the requirements of pros, mechanics and auto technicians who make a living with their tools. GEARWRENCH understands the problems mechanics face every day and provides tools that increase productivity through speed, strength, and access. Since the launch of the five-degree ratcheting wrench, the GEARWRENCH brand has led the industry with breakthroughs in pass-thru ratchets, sockets, screw/nut drivers, pliers, extraction tools and specialty tools.
GEARWRENCH PitBull™ pliers will also adorn the tail of No. 4 Tundra this weekend. GEARWRENCH PitBull™ pliers are cutting and gripping machines. PitBull AutoBite™ pliers feature one-handed automatic gripping action, so they’re perfect for tough work in tight spaces, while PitBull Tongue and Groove pliers have a K9™ jaw that bites hard to grip strong, even when attacking at an angle. If superior cutting’s your thing, PitBull cutting pliers deliver big time with 35% less force needed to cut and 50% longer blade life. When it comes to unstoppable gripping and cutting performance, nothing beats GEARWRENCH PitBull pliers.
John Hunter Nemechek, Driver Q&A:
Being just five points below the cutoff line, how do you approach Saturday’s race at Homestead-Miami?
“I think going into Homestead and being below the cut by five points, we just have to go run our race, maximize everything that we can, try to get as many stage points as we can and try to go win the race. I don’t know if it’s going to take a win to lock ourselves in, but it definitely wouldn’t hurt us to go win at Homestead and at least know that we are locking ourselves in rather than relying on points and everything else. Everything has to go your way and you can’t make any mistakes and just go run our race and not beat ourselves.”
You have had experience at Homestead-Miami in the past, how will that help you this weekend?
“I think being able to go to Homestead and race, it’s a very cool and unique racetrack where tires wear out really fast and pace falls off. I’m really looking forward to Homestead, it’s one of my favorite places to go to, you can run multiple lines and the Truck Series hasn’t been there since 2020 I believe, so a little bit off for them but at least I’ve been there the past couple of years being able to race and test there. I’m excited to go down there and see what we can do. Hopefully, we can go school the field.”
The previous Truck Series races at Homestead have been at night, what differences do you expect this year with the race being during the day?
“It changes how the track will race a lot. The track definitely won’t be as gripped up as it is at nighttime when it starts to cool off. It’s going to be hot, sunny, and slick. Let’s go get it, my favorite!”
John Hunter Nemechek Career Highlights:
- 13-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 145 career starts in NASCAR’s third division, has compiled nine poles, 1,553 laps led, 49 top-five and 80 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.3. 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 67 career XFINITY Series starts, has totaled two wins, one pole, 570 laps led, 17 top-five and 37 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.6.
John Hunter Nemechek’s No. 4 GEARWRENCH Tundra TRD Pro:
KBM-73: The No. 4 GEARWRENCH team will unload KBM-73 for Saturday’s race at Homestead. Nemechek raced this Tundra once earlier this season in its maiden start at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May where he qualified 15th and drove his way to a third-place finish.
KBM-73 Performance Profile
KBM Notes of Interest:
- KBM drivers have tallied five wins, one pole, 416 laps led, 11 top-five and 16 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 9.9 across 29 starts at Homestead-Miami.
- Owner-driver Kyle Busch has notched three of KBM’s wins at Homestead (2010, 2016, & 2020) while Bubba Wallace (2014) and William Byron (2016) each have one win.
- KBM holds the Camping World Truck Series records for most career wins (98) 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 18 career victories at KBM and was the number for both of the organization’s driver championships.
