Post-Race Report: Phoenix

• Stage One: 19th
• Stage Two: 15th
• Stage Three: 25th

• John Hunter Nemechek took the green flag 26th in the FanShield 500 Sunday afternoon at Phoenix Raceway. His No. 38 MDS Trucking Ford Mustang was free to start the race and seemed to stay that way as he battled inside of the Top-25, later finishing Stage 1 in the 19th position.

• Under the stage 1 caution, Nemechek pitted for 4 tires, fuel and a trackbar adjustment. A few laps into the second stage, Nemechek noted that he “needed more turn” and that the car was “having trouble rolling the center.” He would go on to finish Stage 2, 15th.

• Under the Stage 2 caution, Nemechek’s No. 38 MDS Trucking Ford Mustang came to pit road for 4 tires, an air pressure adjustment and fuel. In the final stage, Nemechek looked strong as he ran inside of the Top-20, before being collected in a late race accident that forced him to pit under caution for 4 tires. Nemechek would take the green-white checkered restart from the 25th position. Unable to make a strong push towards the front with so few laps remaining, Nemechek took the checkered flag from the 25th position.

• “It was a very frustrating weekend at Phoenix Raceway. Our No. 38 MDS Trucking Ford Mustang didn’t unloaded the greatest on Friday, so my guys had to take some pretty big swings at the car to try and find speed. I felt like we made some good improvements and thought that the car was pretty decent on Saturday during our qualifying run. Today, the car started out free, but again, my guys did a great job of getting it dialed in and we were competitive inside of the Top-15 for most of the race before being part of a late race accident that forced us to pit for tires with only 2 laps remaining in the race. We just ran out of time to make a charge towards the front again, at the end. I’m ready to put Phoenix behind us and head to Atlanta Motor Speedway next weekend.”