John Hunter Nemechek Unmasks True Xfinity Motive as He Navigates Tricky Legacy MC-JGR Relationship

John Hunter Nemechek has finally come to the rescue of Toyota, ending Chevrolet’s early NASCAR dominance in at least one of the NASCAR series. He was victorious in the gusty Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this Saturday, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, taking on the part-time Xfinity Series responsibility to mark his tenth career win.

Meanwhile, he’s hitting the track full-time with Legacy Motor Club. But when Bob Pockrass from Fox Sports quizzed him on how big of a deal it was for him to race for JGR, especially with Jimmie Johnson and his team pouring their efforts into snagging a win in Cup, Nemechek gave a pretty interesting response.

Xfinity races are confidence boosters for John Hunter Nemechek, but not the reason behind running them

Bob Pockrass questioned if John Hunter Nemechek was hitting the Xfinity circuit as a way to keep his spirits up, especially since things on the Cup side are usually slow to turn up. Nemechek was pretty straightforward about it, “I enjoy racing. I enjoy racing every time that I get the opportunity to… I mean, yeah, it’s definitely a confidence booster, right? And if we don’t run great right off the bat, I like to see Motor Club. Then if we’re over here winning races on Saturday, it keeps my confidence up for sure.”

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He added, “I wouldn’t say that that’s the reason, right, of why I’m doing these Xfinity races, but I really just enjoy racing, being able to come and run in the NASCAR Xfinity series and being competitive equipment on Saturday to have the shot to win every time I go. Yeah, I mean, it’s definitely a confidence booster, but that’s not the reason behind running them.”

John Hunter Nemechek just made is mark in the faction by snagging his first win at The LiUNA! His face-off with teammate Chandler Smith from Joe Gibbs Racing turned the 200-lap race into a real thriller.

Moreover, Nemechek is taking another swing at the Cup side of things, this time with Legacy Motor Club, steering the #42 Toyota. This marks his second full run in the Cup Series since his 2020 debut with Front Row Motorsports, where he bagged three top-10s and ended up P27 in the championship chase.

This season, he managed a P7 finish at Daytona, even after getting caught in a lap 6 pile-up. Brad Keselowski bumped him from behind, sending Nemechek spinning into Harrison Burton and Carson Hocevar, which ended with both hitting the sidelines. But Atlanta was tougher, with Nemechek crossing the finish line in 21st. And juggling two different cars on the same weekend might be a task for many drivers, but it doesn’t faze Nemechek much.

However, he admits there are a few quirks to remember. “I think it’s just remembering what transmissions are in each, where the switches are. [Friday in Atlanta], I went to kill the ignition switch after finishing my qualifying lap, and I reached to where my Cup one is, and it wasn’t in the same spot. So, small things like that.”

But for now, it’s big celebration time for Joe Gibbs Racing and the whole Toyota crew.

JGR’s #20 has ended Chevrolet’s streak

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Nemechek was out in front five times, leading a whopping nearly half of the total laps [99] to take the checkered flag in Las Vegas. Cole Custer, who kicked off from the pole position, bagged second place in his Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing, while Chandler Smith snagged third after leading a solid 74 out of the 200 laps, showcasing Toyota’s strength.

Up until this point, Chevy had been sweeping victories left, right, and center, including Daniel Suarez from Trackhouse Racing snagging an insanely close win at Atlanta and William Byron from Hendrick Motorsports clinching the Daytona 500.

Chevy’s dominance wasn’t just in the Cup Series; they were on a roll in both the Xfinity and Truck Series too, with Nick Sanchez and Kyle Busch winning the first two Truck Series races for Spire Motorsports. Meanwhile, Austin Hill from Richard Childress Racing scored wins at Daytona and Atlanta, making it a clean sweep.

Additionally, this was the first time a single manufacturer dominated the first two weekends of the season. Chevy’s Daytona sweep made them the only car maker to pull this off more than once, having also done it back in 2018.

Now that Nemechek has broken their streak, it’ll be interesting to see how Chevy bounces back in the Cup race.