John Hunter Nemechek is scheduled to make his 11th and final NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the 2024 season this upcoming Saturday, August 17, at Michigan International Speedway for the Cabo Wabo 250. He will do so behind the wheel of the No. 20 Toyota Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing, the entry which he has made all but one of his previous 10 starts this season.
The second-generation racer from Mooresville, North Carolina, is currently campaigning on a full-time basis in the NASCAR Cup Series with Legacy Motor Club and in the No. 42 Toyota Camry XSE entry. Through 23 scheduled starts, he is ranked in 32nd place in the 2024 regular-season standings on the strength of three top-five results, 36 laps led and an average-finishing result of 24.7.
Coming off a strong 2023 season, where he notched a season-high seven victories, transferred all the way to the Championship 4 round, settled in fourth place in the final standings and reached 100 Xfinity career starts, Nemechek transcended back up to the Cup Series on a full-time basis in 2024. The move occurred after Nemechek spent the previous three seasons regaining his on-track competitiveness and winning races that started by scaling back down from a full-time Cup Series role with Front Row Motorsports to a full-time ride with Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Craftsman Truck Series. Amid his full-time Cup role, Nemechek also announced in December 2023 that he would make 10 Xfinity Series starts with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2024, where he would pilot the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing led by rookie crew chief Tyler Allen.
Nemechek commenced his part-time Xfinity campaign in 2024 by finishing in seventh place during the series’ season opener at Daytona International Speedway in February after rallying from a single-car spin towards the halfway segment of the event. Then after finishing 32nd during the following event at Atlanta Motor Speedway, he struck gold by winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in early March after he led a race-high 99 of 200 laps, including the final 11. With the victory, Nemechek notched his 10th career win in the Xfinity circuit, his ninth driving for Joe Gibbs Racing and his first at Vegas.
Over his next five starts in the Xfinity circuit, Nemechek recorded two top-10 results, with his best result being a third-place run at Circuit of the Americas in late March. During the five-race stretch, he added an Xfinity event to his part-time campaign, which was at Darlington Raceway in May as he piloted Sam Hunt Racing’s No. 26 “all-star” Toyota entry to a 23rd-place finish.
Then at Nashville Superspeedway in mid-June, Nemechek capitalized on a restart with 46 laps remaining to muscle ahead of reigning series champion Cole Custer and fend off a late charge from teammate Chandler Smith to win for the second time in the 2024 season and triumph both for the first time at Nashville and the 11th time in his Xfinity career. Recently, Nemechek ended up in 25th place at the Chicago Street Course in early July.
In addition to making his 11th Xfinity Series start of the 2024 season this upcoming weekend at Michigan, the event will mark Nemechek’s 111th Xfinity career start and fifth at the two-mile oval circuit in the Irish Hills of Brooklyn, Michigan. Ironically, he won at Michigan for the first time a year ago in an event where he also recorded the milestone 200th Xfinity career win for Joe Gibbs Racing.
As Nemechek chases another checkered flag to add to his Xfinity Series resume at Michigan to gain an early advantage to his full-time Cup Series campaign, he also strives to extend the momentum of Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota team that aims to contend for the 2024 Xfinity owners’ championship at season’s end. Through 20 scheduled events, the No. 20 team is ranked in fourth place in the Xfinity owners’ standings on the strength of five victories, nine top-five results and 13 top-10 results. With Nemechek having won twice in the No. 20 entry, Aric Almirola, Ryan Truex and Christopher Bell have each piloted the entry to a single victory apiece. Should the No. 20 entry capture the owners’ title, it would be the seventh time doing so for the organization and the first for the No. 20 entry since the 2008 season.
The 2024 Cabo Wabo 250 at Michigan International Speedway is scheduled to occur this Saturday, August 17, and air at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
