A racer in his own right, Nemechek’s father Joe was nothing but proud to see his son in Victory Lane. “John Hunter drives his butt off,” he said in a post‐race FS1 interview. The younger Nemechek was able to grab the lead during the final restart. “Luckily we got the jump,” he said post‐race. “We had the fastest truck at the end on the bottom and it turned out good.” Nemechek also sang the praises of his pit crew, who gained him 16 spots during the day.
Cameron Hayley crossed the line in the runner‐up position. The second place run marked the No. 13 Cabinets by Hayley Toyota driver’s best‐career finish. “I needed to run a little bit harder, but great run to start up the year,” Hayley said in the post‐race Toyota release. “This was my hardest track of the year. I needed to get this one over with and to come out of here second I’m pretty happy with the team and proud of everything everybody has done for me. It’s just an amazing start to the year.”
After a tire issue, Timothy Peters finished third in the No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra. He praised his crew chief and pit crew for helping him come back from one lap down. “We were able to catch the vibration with our right front cording on us,” he explained in the Toyota post‐race release. “Shane (Huffman, crew chief) made great calls. The pit crew did awesome not only getting me back (on the lead lap) but all race long, they gained us spots. To fight back through adversity, I’ll take it.”
Among the unfortunate was the No. 9 Liberty University Toyota driven by William Byron. Byron was running second on the board when his engine let go on lap 59. “It’s just unfortunate we blew a motor,” he said in a Toyota Racing press release. “We started 15th and got to second and just needed a few adjustments but we were going to be there.”
Matt Crafton, one of the favorites going into the afternoon, looked to be on his way to winning on another 1.5‐mile track but trouble struck when he was involved in a crash with Christopher Bell and Daniel Suarez. “The No.4 (Bell) just lost it and got the No. 51 (Suarez) in the right rear and just him dead sideways into me,” Crafton explained. “It was a pretty solid shot but hands down to NASCAR for having all these SAFER barriers and everything around this race track. It’s a shame because this Menards Toyota was so fast.”
The truck series will take close to a month off before resuming at Martinsville Speedway the first weekend of April. FS1, MRN and Sirius XM Channel 90 are scheduled to have the coverage.
Here’s how the top 10 stacked up:
1. John Hunter Nemechek
2. Cameron Hayley
3. Timothy Peters
4. Daniel Hemric
5. Grant Emfinger
6. Ben Rhodes
7. John Wes Townley
8. Parker Kligerman
9. Caleb Holman
10. Spencer Gallagher
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