- John Hunter Nemechek has emerged as the championship favorite in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
- At age 26, Nemechek is one victory away from tying the number of NASCAR races his father Joe Nemechek won.
- He and Cup competitor Martin Truex Jr. are two Joe Gibbs Racing drivers who don’t know what 2024 holds for them.
Rebuilding a career is never easy, but John Hunter Nemechek now realizes that taking a step back and recreating his professional path through NASCAR’s three national touring series has been beneficial.
“That move might have been a little bit too soon for me,” Nemechek says about his Cup debut at age 22. “But I learned a lot from that. It made me a better race car driver. It made me a better person. It made me stronger mentally through ups-and-downs.”
With the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs looming on the horizon, Nemechek has emerged as the championship favorite. Eighteen races into the season, the first-year Joe Gibbs Racing driver has recorded a series leading four victories, earned one pole, 10-top five and 15 top-10 finishes. He had settled into the lead in the regular season standings by 33 points over Austin Hill.
Nemechek’s success this season comes three years after he competed full time in NASCAR’s Cup Series for Front Row Motorsports. That year he managed only three top-10 finishes in 36 races and led one lap out of 9,611. For 2021, he found himself back in NASCAR’s truck series with Kyle Busch Motorsports. It was there where he regained his competitive footing, winning five races and finishing third in the standings. The following year, Nemechek won two races and placed fifth in the points.
When KBM switched to Chevrolet this season, Toyota didn’t want to lose Nemechek, and he stepped into a JGR Xfinity Series car. However, he and Cup competitor Martin Truex Jr. are two JGR drivers who don’t know what 2024 holds for them. Many believe Nemechek would take over for Truex if he decides to retire, but if Truex elects to return for another season, then what’s on tap for Nemechek?
“The future will settle itself. I don’t feel like I’m worried about the future,” Nemechek says. “For me, it’s all about going and winning races. I love the spot that I’m in. I love the last three years of winning races at the truck level, at the Xfinity level. Hopefully, we can do that one day again in the Cup Series level.
“It can get frustrating not knowing your future, where you’re going to end up, but at the same time, patience is a virtue. I had to learn patience once I had a kid. That changed my perspective on a lot of things. I think whatever happens in the future is going to happen for a reason.”
At age 26, Nemechek is one victory away from tying the number of NASCAR races his father won. Entering this year’s Pocono race, in addition to 13 truck series victories, John Hunter possessed six Xfinity wins. Joe Nemechek won 20 NASCAR races during his career—16 in Xfinity Series and four in the Cup series.
“I’ve always had the goal of being better than my dad,” John Hunter says.
In addition to being Joe’s son, the young Nemechek is his uncle’s namesake. John Nemechek was killed in a NASCAR truck series accident at Homestead three months before John Hunter was born. However, the family legacy he carries has never been a burden or placed pressure on him.
“For me, it’s trying to make a name for myself,” John Hunter says. “Growing up underneath him (Joe) and then carrying on my uncle’s name, it’s really, really neat. It’s kind of a family legacy that I get to continue to carry on, but at the same time make a name for myself. I want everyone to say, ‘That’s John Hunter’s dad rather than ‘That’s Joe Nemechek’s son.’”
