On a day where guessing right on fuel was critical, the small team of John Hunter Nemechek made the right calls at the end, and that resulted in a special performance Saturday.
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The race was originally scheduled to take place Friday night but was postponed due to rain until this morning.
The second-generation NASCAR driver was running second Saturday morning behind Kyle Larson when Larson ran out of gas two laps from the finish.
John Hunter Nemechek grabbed his first career victory by capitalizing in the NASCAR Truck Series race at Chicagoland Speedway when others didn’t have the fuel to make it to the finish. “I was a little bit frustrated with our crew chief, Gere Kennon, on the last stop”.
“It’s definitely an awesome experience”, John Hunter Nemechek said. That left SWM-NEMCO Motorsports’ John Hunter Nemechek as the last man standing on the same strategy, and even though the engine coughed and wheezed itself dry in the final seconds he was still able to ride his stroke of good fortune all the way to victory lane for his first win in the Truck Series.
“We had a hub cap come close, we pitted, got gas when we needed”.
Series points leader Erik Jones will start eighth. Two-time defending series champion Matt Crafton suffered two pit road penalties, ran out of fuel and finished 14th, three laps down, to fall to third in points, 11 behind Jones.
Sprint Cup qualifying was also washed out and that field was also set by practice time with Kevin Harvick, who was fastest in Friday practice on the pole, and Joey Logano along side Harvick in the front row.
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Johnny Sauter, Tyler Reddick and Timothy Peters will complete the top five on the starting lineup based on their practice speeds. John Hunter Nemechek, who became the fourth-youngest victor in Truck Series history, is a member of NASCAR Next class, a program created to spotlight up-and-coming drivers. With Jones’ lead over Reddick a paltry 10 points.
