John Hunter Nemechek celebrates with his team after winning Saturday night’s NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series race at Gateway Motorsports Park. Photo by Jeff Curry/NASCAR via Getty Images
“Happy Father’s Day!” a crew member shouted at team owner Joe Nemechek Saturday night as track workers put together the victory lane stage behind them.
Nemechek had already passed out a half dozen hugs and handshakes to other members of the team he owns, NEMCO Motorsports. “Incredible,” was all Nemechek could muster in response after watching his son, John Hunter Nemechek, pass Matt Crafton late in the race and win the NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series Drivin’ for Linemen 200 at Gateway Motorsports Park.
It was the fourth win of John Hunter’s Truck Series career, all of them driving for his father. But it was the first in which his father was also a participant. The win puts John Hunter Nemechek in elite company. Other sons to win a NASCAR national series race against their father include Richard Petty, Kyle Petty, Davey Allison and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
The elder Nemechek completed just two laps and finished 28th out of 30 trucks and watched the rest of the race from atop his son’s pit box. As the laps wound down, he tried, not terribly successfully, to remain calm as his son diced through the front of the field. He keyed the mic a couple times and told his son, “Be smart.”
It was advice the younger Nemechek took to heart. His trucks have been far faster than his results have shown so far this season, and the last thing he wanted to do was be impatient and drive himself out of a good finish. He crashed in the two previous races and had only finished on the lead lap twice all season.
John Hunter Nemechek led all 35 laps of the first stage of the race and 46 overall. Chase Briscoe led all of the second stage. Matt Crafton seized control of the race when he took zero tires on a green flag pit stop at lap 138 of 160.
The first and only caution that wasn’t related to the end of a stage didn’t come until there were 13 laps left—an unusually long stretch of green flag racing considering how difficult of a track Gateway is to navigate. The caution bunched the field back up, and Nemechek, who had two fresher tires, squeezed by Crafton for the final time with five to go.
“I felt like we had the truck to beat if we had track position,” Nemechek said. “Track position was everything. Clean air was everything.”
When John Hunter pulled into victory lane, his dad ran over and stuck his head in the window. They shared a moment about all of the struggles they overcame together to win this race on Father’s Day eve. They can’t outspend other teams, so they have to out think and out drive them.
“It’s taken everything that I have to get here,” Joe Nemechek said. “Our future in this deal is not certain. Hopefully this can spark some interest in sponsorship.”
Joe knew his son would be emotional in victory lane, and he wanted to tell him he was proud of him before the chaos of the celebration began. “He’s the man. He drove his butt off tonight,” he said.
John Hunter’s emotions poured out in the post-race celebration. “To give him a Father’s Day gift, something like this, is very special. As a boss, as a mentor, as a dad, pretty much everything he is to me, it’s definitely inspiring. I won’t ever be able to thank him enough.”
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Gateway Motorsports Park – Madison, IL
Drivin’ for Linemen 200 – June 17, 2017
1. (2) John Hunter Nemechek, Chevrolet, 160.
2. (1) Chase Briscoe #, Ford, 160.
3. (9) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 160.
4. (6) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 160.
5. (14) Grant Enfinger #, Toyota, 160.
6. (3) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 160.
7. (11) Ryan Truex, Toyota, 160.
8. (12) Ben Rhodes, Toyota, 160.
9. (7) Noah Gragson #, Toyota, 160.
10. (8) Justin Haley #, Chevrolet, 160.
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12. (13) Cody Coughlin #, Toyota, 160.
13. (10) Kaz Grala #, Chevrolet, 160.
14. (15) Austin Hill, Ford, 159.
15. (17) T.J. Bell, Chevrolet, 158.
16. (18) Kyle Donahue, Chevrolet, 158.
17. (19) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 154.
18. (22) Wendell Chavous #, Chevrolet, 147.
19. (20) Josh Reaume, Chevrolet, Parked, 145.
20. (28) Bryce Napier, Chevrolet, Brakes, 114.
21. (4) Todd Gilliland, Toyota, Transmission, 112.
22. (25) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, Brakes, 96.
23. (26) Camden Murphy, Chevrolet, Brakes, 43.
24. (16) Clay Greenfield, Chevrolet, Power Steering, 26.
25. (27) Donnie Levister, Chevrolet, Drive Shaft, 17.
26. (24) Kevin Donahue, Chevrolet, Brakes, 11.
27. (21) Travis Kvapil, Chevrolet, Vibration, 3.
28. (23) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, Vibration, 2.
29. (30) Tommy Regan, Chevrolet, Transmission, 1.
30. (29) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, Suspension, 0.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 111.836 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 47 Mins, 18 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.635 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 3 for 17 laps.
Lead Changes: 9 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Briscoe # 0; John H. Nemechek 1-39; C. Briscoe # 40-73; C. Bell 74-80; C. Briscoe # 81-134; J. Haley # 135-137; M. Crafton 138-152; John H. Nemechek 153; M. Crafton 154; John Hunter Nemechek 155-160.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): C. Briscoe # 2 times for 88 laps; John Hunter Nemechek 3 times for 46 laps; M. Crafton 2 times for 16 laps; C. Bell 1 time for 7 laps; J. Haley # 1 time for 3 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 8,29,88,4,16,51,19,21,24,27
Stage #2 Top Ten: 29,88,8,98,4,21,19,27,16,51
Top 10 in Points: 1. Johnny Sauter – 380 (1 Win); 2. Christopher Bell – 342 (2 Wins); 3. Matt Crafton – 318; 4. Chase Briscoe – 311; 5. Ben Rhodes – 281; 6. Grant Enfinger – 265 7. Ryan Truex – 265; 8. Kaz Grala – 234 (1 Win); 9. John Hunter Nemechek – 228 (1 Win); 10. Noah Gragson – 209.
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