After a two-week break and a disappointing 39th-place finish on the dirt at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, John Hunter Nemechek and the No. 4 Safeway team return to action Saturday afternoon in the ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. After five races, Nemechek sits at the top of the Camping World Trucks championship standings, six tallies ahead of Ben Rhodes.
Since the Camping World Truck Series last raced, Nemechek became a father. He and his wife Taylor celebrated the birth of their first child, a baby girl, Aspen Palmer Nemechek, on March 31.
Saturday will be Nemechek’s first Camping World Truck Series on the 0.75-mile oval. In 2020, Nemechek made his sole NASCAR Cup Series start at Richmond, where he finished in the 30th position. In NASCAR Xfinity Series competition, Nemechek has three career starts with a best finish of seventh in April 2019.
Nemechek is a seven-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 this year with KBM. Across 107 career starts in NASCAR’s third division, the second-generation driver has compiled two poles, 752 laps led, 31 top-five and 54 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 13.1. The North Carolina native qualified for the Camping World Truck Series playoffs in each of his two full-time seasons, finishing eighth in the championship standings in both 2016 and 2017. He was voted the series most popular driver in 2015.
The 23-year-old driver 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, earned the Sunoco Rookie of the Race award four times and finished 23rd in the championship standings.
Eric Phillips returns to KBM to lead the No. 4 team this season. 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. His 38 career Truck Series victories make him the winningest crew chief in Truck Series history, with 28 of those coming while at KBM. At Richmond, Phillips has two career starts with a best finish of 31st in 2004 with Travis Kvapil.
All three KBM Tundras will carry a special decal on the B post this week promoting Autism Awareness that includes the website address of NASCAR Sammy (NASCARSammy.com), an avid NASCAR fan autism advocate. Fans can visit his site to purchase a decal and help support his mission.
John Hunter Nemechek, Driver Q&A:
You recently became a father. How is that going for you?
“It’s all going good. Being a dad is something that has definitely been very exciting and amusing. It’s something I don’t think anyone can explain until it happens to them. It’s a pretty amazing experience so far. Aspen has been doing good. Taylor is doing very well. Hopefully, we can get her to victory lane soon. I’m excited to get her out to the racetrack.”
What does it take to be successful at Richmond?
“To be successful in a Truck at Richmond, I don’t know. I will let you know come Saturday. For us, it’s going to be pushing the limits of our truck and to not make any mistakes. We start kind of far back from our whole Bristol dirt deal, so we have to drive up through there. We have to maximize stage points and make the right adjustments. It will be the first time I’ve driven a truck at Richmond. It’s the first time I’ve been in any type of vehicle that has downforce at Richmond. Everything that I’ve driven there from the Xfinity and Cup car has always been low downforce. It’s a whole new task for me, but I look forward to learning and being a part of the journey.”
