John Hunter Nemechek was relegated to a 39th-place finish on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway due to another competitor making contact with the nose of the No. 4 Mobil 1 Tundra after he spun at the front of the field on lap 48. Prior to spinning, Nemechek was running in fifth position.
Nemechek’s lead in the point standings shrinks to six tallies over Toyota teammate Ben Rhodes.
Stage One Recap
With the qualifying races rained out on Saturday, Nemechek started from the pole position after a performance matrix based on based off of finishing position from the previous race, ranking in owner points standings and the fastest lap from the previous race at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway. When the field went green, Nemechek fell back through the field to the ninth position. Nemechek radioed to his Mobil 1 crew that his Tundra was tight. After a slow start, Nemechek was able to recover to finish the opening stanza in the fifth position.
Stage Two Recap
Under the stage caution, Nemechek radioed to his crew that there was enough drive in his Tundra. Crew chief Eric Phillips elected to keep Nemechek out on the racetrack under the controlled caution, due to track position being key. Nemechek restarted in the second position. While Nemechek was running in the fifth position, Matt Crafton tapped the bumper of the Mobil 1 Tundra and sent the No. 4 for a spin. As he waited for traffic to clear, Derek Kraus spun, hitting Nemechek to knock the radiator out. Nemechek was relegated to a 39th-place finish.
What exactly happened there?
“I don’t know. Matt (Crafton) just flat-out ran over me, so that one will be in the memory bank, but we were fine. We didn’t hit anything and then towards the end of that whole deal, the 19 (Derek Kraus) – I guess him and his spotter both need a set of glasses, so I will have those for them at Richmond.”