John Hunter Nemechek led the final six laps following a restart with eight to go to win the Camping World Truck Series’ race at Gateway Motorsports Park.
Nemechek passed Matt Crafton in Turn 2 and went unchallenged to claim his fourth Truck Series win and his first of the year.
NEMCO Motorsports is the first non-Kyle Busch Motorsports or GMS Racing team to win this year.
The win comes after Nemechek entered the race with no laps led despite two top-five finishes. Outside those two races, Nemechek had finished 21st or worse in every other race.
“It’s definitely an emotional win,” a tearful Nemechek told Fox Sports 1. “All the hard work that goes in, everyone’s worked their tails off. We haven’t had the best luck this year. Getting into victory lane when we needed to, God is great, I can’t thank him enough. I knew all the hard work would pay off. This is an awesome Father’s Day present for dad here and team owner (Joe Nemechek).”
Nemechek later said, “Not knowing how many more races we’re going to get to this year, this definitely means a lot.”
Joe Nemechek said only half the team’s races for this season had sponsorship and that there was doubt whether the No. 8 Chevrolet would be able to go to the next race at Iowa Speedway.
“I hate to see John Hunter go through that, he has so much talent,” Joe Nemechek told FS1. “He’s going to be a Cup champion one of these days. Right now, we’re just trying to get to the next race. He is tough. As far as driving the racecar is one thing, but when you deal with all the financial part of it just to figure out how to keep going, that makes it hard on a young kid. … That was his will tonight. We got the truck close, but he was on it.”
Chase Briscoe, who led a race high 88 laps, finished second for the second week in a row. The rookie was one of two drivers who pit during the final caution for tires, leading to a frantic charge through the field.
The top five was completed by Chase Briscoe, Johnny Sauter, Matt Crafton and Grant Enfinger.
Stage 1 winner: John Hunter Nemechek
Stage 2 winner: Chase Briscoe
WHO HAD A GOOD NIGHT: Christopher Bell was in second on the last lap, but contact with Briscoe cut his left rear tire and sent him to sixth. … Matt Crafton earned just his second top five of the year …. Ryan Truex finished seventh for his sixth top 10 in a row … Grant Enfinger earned his third top five of the year.
WHO HAD A BAD NIGHT: The 11 trucks that failed to finish due to some sort of mechanical failure … Todd Gilliland earned his second DNF in as many starts after a transmission problem on Lap 114 … Jennifer Jo Cobb failed to start after the team discovered a hole in her radiator on the starting grid and was unable to make repairs. … Josh Reaume brought out the only caution outside of the stage endings. His No. 50 truck stalled on pit road with 12 laps to go.
NOTABLE: The No. 02 of Austin Hill failed front heights in post-race inspection. Any penalties will be announced later in the week.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: “Those guys just took two tires and I was on no tires and we had a lot of laps on them right side tires and we were just done. You win some, you lose some and everybody is upset but at the same time they knew we were here tonight.” – Matt Crafton after finishing fourth.
WHAT’S NEXT: The Iowa 200 at Iowa Speedway at 8:30 p.m. ET on June 23 on Fox Sports 1.
