Saturday May 29, 2021 by Philippe Brasseur
With his third victory of the season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, John Hunter Nemechek reaffirmed the mastery of Kyle Busch Motorsports (Toyota) on the 1.5 mile ovals last Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Nemechek resisted rookie Carson Hocevar in the final raise after a neutralization 10 laps from the end to go for victory, with 0.419 seconds, in this 10th round of the 2021 season of the pickup truck series . This neutralization occurred after the violent collision with three drivers at the entrance of the tri-oval, which notably ended the race of one of the favorites, the veteran Johnny Sauter (Toyota / Thor Sport Racing).
This is Nemechek’s first victory in Charlotte, and the ninth of his career. This comes as the start of the weekend for the young American driver (replacing Raphaël Lessard this season at the controls of the Toyota No.4 at Kyle Busch Motorsports) was not easy, when he had hit the wall early in free practice and had only completed 10 total laps of those free practice.
With its previous victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and those of Kyle Busch at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway, Kyle Busch Motorsports has claimed victory in the four events held this season on 1.5 mile tracks.
Nemechek also collected the last of three bonuses in the Triple Truck Challenge of $ 50,000, in addition of course to increasing his lead to first place in the championship, which is now 44 points over runner-up Ben Rhodes (Toyota / Thor Sport Racing).
For his part, Hocevar apologized to his team (Niece Motorsports) for the inexperience which prevented him from competing with Nemechek at the end! It was, however, his best career result in the series.
Ben Rhodes was third, followed by Canadian Stewart Friesen (Toyota / Halmar Racing) and Todd Gilliland (Ford / Front Row Motorsports), winner last Saturday at the Circuit of the Americas, the road circuit in Austin, Texas. Chandler Smith, Ty Majeski, Derek Kraus, Austin Hill and Zane Smith completed the Top 10. For the full standings, Click here.
Nemechek dominated this race. He had even taken a comfortable lead over his immediate pursuers when at 19 laps to go, Trey Hutchens III slowed down at the start of turn 4. Drew Dollar was able to avoid him, but Sauter, whose sight was blocked by Hutchens’ Chevrolet, hit the broken down Hutchens Chevrolet head-on and destroyed both trucks.
Defending series champion Sheldon Creed (Chevrolet / GMS Racing) won the first segment, but was eliminated in a three-driver crash, with Gilliland and Chase Purdy, at Turn 4, on the 55th of 134 laps in this race. test.
Another GMS Racing driver, Zane Smith, won the second segment. But, a recurring phenomenon at GMS Racing, a penalty because a mechanic stepped over the wall separating the pit line before the driver’s vehicle was immobilized sent him back to the back of the peloton during the restart on the 69th lap. . Despite everything, he managed to climb back up to 10th at the finish line.
Next up in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is the SpeedyCash.com 220 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, June 12.
For the video of the best moments of last night’s race, see the video below…
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