John Hunter Nemechek – No. 4 Mobil 1 Tundra Camping World Trucks Las Vegas Preview

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Neme’chek’ The Facts:
 
  • John Hunter Nemechek and the No. 4 Mobil 1 team return to action Friday night in the first 1.5-mile race of the 2021 season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. After two races, Nemechek sits second in the Camping World Trucks championship standings, nine tallies behind points leader Ben Rhodes. He leads the series in laps led (28), is tied for number of fastest laps run (8), has captured a stage win in each of the first two events and recorded an average finish of 5.0 in his first two starts for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
 
  • The second-generation driver has made six starts in Camping World Truck Series action at Las Vegas, with a best result of fourth coming in the 2015 event. Last season, Nemechek raced at Las Vegas twice in the NASCAR Cup Series with a best finish of 20th in the September event.
 
  • Nemechek is a six-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. Across 104 career starts in NASCAR’s third division, the second-generation driver has compiled two poles, 637 laps led, 29 top-five and 52 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 13.0. 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 37 career Truck Series victories make him the winningest crew chief in Truck Series history, with 27 of those coming while at KBM. At Las Vegas, Phillips has nine starts in Camping World Trucks competition. In 2014, Phillips captured victory with Erik Jones at the 1.5-mile facility. He has collected one top-five, six top-10s, and an average finish of 12.6.
 
  • The world’s leading synthetic motor oil brand, Mobil 1, features anti-wear technology that provides performance beyond our conventional motor oils. This technology allows Mobil 1 to meet or exceed the toughest standards of car builders and to provide exceptional protection against engine wear, under normal or even some of the most extreme conditions. Mobil 1 flows quickly in extreme temperatures to protect critical engine parts and is designed to maximize engine performance and help extend engine life.
 
John Hunter Nemechek, Driver Q&A:
 
How important is it for you to come out this week and have a strong run on a 1.5-mile track to show that you are capable of competing for the win no matter the track style?
“Having strong runs on a superspeedway to start out the year at Daytona and then going to a road course and leading a bunch of laps with another strong run there to now a mile-and-a-half, I definitely feel like being able to show up to every different style racetrack is only going to help us know that we are going to be competitive every single week when we show up no matter what style track. With it being the first 1.5-mile race, I’m super excited about it. I really like Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Hopefully we can go get the job done.”
 
How does the racing at Vegas in trucks compare to the other 1.5-mile tracks?
“I feel like the racing at Las Vegas is very interesting. It almost races like a superspeedway with how big the runs are in the draft and everything else. Overall, it is still your typical 1.5-mile racetrack. It’s something that I really enjoy. I love being able to manipulate the air and move around. Vegas is another place where you can move from the bottom all the way to the top to run the fence. Hopefully we can get up there Friday night.”
 
Is it going to be any different this week racing against Kyle now having him as a teammate and also being your boss?
“Racing against Kyle has definitely been a lot of fun. Growing up racing against him, he is always the guy to beat when you show up Super Late Model racing or in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series or the NASCAR XFINITY Series. Being able to race against him for so many years, he is up on me for beating me so many times, but I’ve still been able to beat him a couple of times. Hopefully we will be able to go out there and have a really good weekend and bring home the KBM trucks 1-2-3. Hopefully it is us in victory lane instead of him.”
 
John Hunter Nemechek Career Highlights:
 
  • Six-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. Across 104 career starts in NASCAR’s third division, has compiled two poles, 637 laps led, 29 top-five and 52 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 13.0.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Across 51 career XFINITY Series starts, has totaled one win (Kansas Speedway, 10/20/18), one pole, 225 laps led, 12 top-five and 30 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 11.6.
 
John Hunter Nemechek’s No. 4 Mobil 1 Tundra:
 
KBM-058: The No. 4 Mobil 1 team will unload KBM-058 Friday in Las Vegas. Christian Eckes last ran the chassis at Kansas Speedway, where he finished in the sixth position. The chassis scored one win at Charlotte in 2019 with Kyle Busch.
 
 
KBM Notes of Interest:
 
  • KBM drivers have collected four wins, four poles, 545 laps led, 12 top-five and 19 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.2 across 36 starts at Las Vegas. Erik Jones won the 2014 event while owner-driver Kyle Busch won in the spring of 2018, 2019 and 2020.
  • KBM holds the Camping World Truck Series records for most career wins (80) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). In addition to collecting a series-record seven Owner’s Championships, the organization has produced two championship-winning drivers: Erik Jones (2015) and Christopher Bell (2017).
  • The No. 4 has 11 career victories at KBM and was the number for both of the organization’s driver championships.

KBM PR

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