How Jimmie Johnson’s Young Buck Took Advantage of NASCAR’s Tire-Focused Weekend Washed Out by Rain

It looked bleak for John Hunter Nemechek when the race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway was heading into a red flag because of the rain. With 82 laps remaining of the race’s scheduled distance, the 27-year-old was two laps down, languishing in 31st place. Surely out of contention, right? He had already finished outside the top 10 in the last 12 races, and with steady rain pouring over the 1.058-mile oval, why would it be any different this time around?

Call it luck, or a twist of fate! Nemechek’s prayers were answered when NASCAR never called off the race, and drivers made it onto the track with wet weather tires before darkness engulfed Loudon. This turned the tide in Nemechek’s favor dramatically.

John Hunter Nemechek’s dramatic resurgence

The weekend couldn’t have gone off to a worse start. With rain canceling qualifying, John Hunter Nemechek only got four minutes of practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway due to the weather. As a result, Nemechek and his crew chief Benjamin Beshore couldn’t tune up the No. 42 Toyota Camry before the race. With the car not handling as expected, Nemechek found himself struggling after the opening two stages.

Amidst the difficult conditions, drivers took every little advantage they could lay their hands on to get a result. Observing how drivers were cooling off their tires, Freddie Kraft, on the Door Bumper Clear podcast, said, “I saw John Hunter driving through the grass at one point, cooling his tires off and it helped him obviously. He’s in the top 10 I think.” The 27-year-old wasn’t the only one cooling off his tires, especially with NASCAR looking the other way. “They (NASCAR) were letting that go because we were all trying to get against the inside wall down the front stretch because there was standing water down there to cool your tires off”, Kraft concluded.

Given the weather conditions, NASCAR’s approach at the Magic Mile was out of the ordinary. Expressing his views, TJ Majors said, “In those conditions, they’re kind of giving everybody a pass. If they’re going to start monitoring that, they need to start monitoring where we come off Turn 4 we were all crossing the commitment box. We were inside the commitment box.”

When the race resumed with wet tires, drivers became more aggressive. Damp conditions meant cars began to collide into each other, skidding into walls, or even spinning because of a lack of grip. Meanwhile, John Hunter Nemechek remained steady, making virtually no mistakes till the end of the race.

He entered the top 25 on Lap 261 and reached the top 20 by Lap 283. With lady luck on his side, Ryan Blaney and Michael McDowell spun while being in the top three, resulting in John Hunter Nemechek reaching the top 15 by Lap 303. By the end of the race, Nemechek had overtaken 23 cars, made up two laps, and finished in eighth place. It was his first top-10 result since finishing sixth at Bristol Motor Speedway in March earlier this year.

Legacy Motor Club is interested in acquiring a third charter

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Having switched from Chevrolet to Toyota for the 2024 season, Legacy Motor Club could make yet another change soon. Jimmie Johnson’s team is reportedly one of the four teams that are interested in acquiring a charter now that Stewart-Haas Racing is ceasing operations at the end of the season. As things presently stand, the team features John Hunter Nemechek and Erik Jones as full-time racers, while Jimmie Johnson is a third, part-time entry.

However, with no agreement reached on extending the charter system, Jimmie Johnson, co-owner of Legacy Motor Club said, “I think it’s going to come down to deep in the year … Right now it’s still posturing. I know we feel like the clock is ticking, but if you look at how much time is left, we’re just getting into the eighth inning, maybe ninth inning of what really needs to happen in negotiations for all parties.”

With the current agreement set to expire on December 31, tension is at an all-time high as race teams continue their quest to secure permanent charters. There has been plenty of back-and-forth about revenue distribution between NASCAR and race teams, but as things stand, charter expectations seem to be an insurmountable task. As team owners, including Jimmie Johnson, look to reduce dependency on sponsorships, the quest for a permanent seat at the table or a higher revenue slice continues.

Do you think Legacy Motor Club will acquire a third charter? Let us know in the comments!