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Nemechek making the most of his second chance in the Cup Series

NASCAR Cup Series racing is different for John Hunter Nemechek these days.

“I’m excited to come to the racetrack,” Nemechek tells RACER. “I am excited to see how we stack up speed wise. I’m excited to come and drive every single weekend and perform to the best of my ability. I feel way calmer than I have in the past. I just feel different than I ever have.”

Looking at his numbers, it’s clear to see why.

Nemechek and the No. 42 team are punching above their weight class. Although he is not the highest Legacy Motor Club driver in the championship point standings, he is 23rd while Erik Jones, on the strength of more stage points, is 16th. It has already become a career year for Nemechek in the series. He has six top-10 finishes in 18 races and earned his first career top-five finish with a fifth place in the season-opening Daytona 500.

If the upward trajectory continues, Nemechek is on pace to finish a career-high in points and improve his overall average finish in the season. Additionally, he is five lead lap finishes away from a single-season high in that category.

The difference this year?

“Personnel. Confidence. Processes. Procedures. Culture,” lists Nemechek.

In other words, a little bit of everything, as is prone to happen in the racing world.

“Everything but the kitchen sink,” Nemechek acknowledges. “I feel really good about the people that we’ve been able to surround ourselves with over the offseason and still going strong now. I feel really good about the confidence that I’ve been able to build in myself from ’24 to ’25; having a different mindset. I did a lot of work over the offseason on myself as a race car driver and things of that sort that I feel much better about.

“I feel like I’m in a better head space and things of that sort, as well. I just feel good. I don’t feel like we’re clawing for our lives trying to run 30th every week. We can have everything go right and execute the way that we need to and have top five days.”

Experience and confidence in the team around him have helped push Nemechek and the No. 42 team forward this year. Logan Riely/Getty Images

Some of the mental area aspect for Nemechek simply comes with experience. It his second year driving the current version of NASCAR’s Cup Series car. Nemechek also credited having people around him that hold him accountable while believing in his ability.

“It’s nice to feel wanted, let’s say,” says Nemechek with a smile. “When it comes down to that, having the right people in your corner is very beneficial. I think Travis [Mack, his crew chief] and I have gelled really well over the offseason, and we’ve been able to work really well together and get on the same page pretty quick.”

Nemechek, 28, is a second-generation driver who followed his father, Joe, and uncle, John. John Nemechek died in 1997 from injuries sustained in a Craftsman Truck Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Joe Nemechek made nearly 700 starts in the Cup Series during his career, which included four times.

The younger Nemechek grew up at the racetrack around his father, in his own miniature firesuit. From karts to late models and then the 2012 championship in the Allison Legacy Series (scaled down stock cars) made it a quick assent for Nemechek to make his NASCAR national series debut in the Truck Series in 2013. He was 16 years old.

John Hunter had a fruitful Truck Series stint with 13 wins in 149 starts. In the Xfinity Series, where he has made 111 starts, he’s won 11 times. But his first foray into the Cup Series was nothing to write home about.

“It was hard,” Nemechek admits of his 2020 rookie season with Front Row Motorsports.

Nemechek finished 27th in the standings that season with five DNFs. Although he completed 97% of the laps, Nemechek was on the lead lap in 15 of 36 races.

“I learned some very valuable lessons when it came to life perspective, when it came to showing up to the racetrack every weekend and I guess what’s really important,” Nemechek says. “There were a lot of things that I did that year that probably didn’t help my head space, and from an expectation standpoint of showing up expecting to run up front and win races, whatever it may be. It’s not necessarily that way. If I would have gotten put in a different spot team wise, and you’re expected to win, then that is a completely different situation. But that’s how I was on myself.

“I think the other thing that was hard about that year was it was COVID. So, showing up as a rookie, driving a Cup car for the first time, not being able to make adjustments through practice, having to learn on the fly, adjust our car during the race. There were a lot of things that were, I don’t want to say against me, but a lot of things … I was drinking out of a fire hose and trying to learn everything that I could. That car definitely drove more like the Xfinity car than this car does, but the jump from Xfinity to Cup, I can’t express enough how hard it actually is in the Cup Series.”

Nemechek got his winning groove back by returning to the Truck Series in 2021. Sean Gardner/Getty Images

After one season, Nemechek informed the organization he wasn’t going to return. In taking a chance on himself, Nemecek “dropped down” to the Truck Series and won seven races in two years (2021-22). He made another stint in the Xfinity Series in 2023 and won seven times.

The success reestablished Nemechek as an attractive prospect. Legacy Motor Club gave Nemechek his second shot at the Cup Series with a contract beginning with the 2024 season.

And this second shot has Nemechek on the relevant side of the leaderboard. Making it harder and harder for the garage not to see him and his team as serious contenders.

“People are talking, right?” Nemechek says. “People are talking about speed; people are talking about finishes. We’re in a completely different situation that we were last year. I think we are having conversations internally at the team that we probably didn’t expect to have or have on our radar for another year or two. So, I definitely feel like we’ve gained a lot pretty quick from where we are at.”