John Hunter Nemechek Prevails to Nashville Win

It was a steamy hot afternoon at Nashville Superspeedway as John Hunter Nemechek drove to his second win of the season, driving the No. 20 for Joe Gibbs Racing. 

Nemechek led for 76 of the 188 laps in the Tennessee Lottery 250, while also winning stage two. He would lead the final 46 laps after passing Cole Custer for the lead.

“Feels good to be back in the 20 machine, we’ve been close to winning a lot this year in this thing,” said Nemechek. “Being able to capitalize on it is huge. … It’s great to get it done here in Nashville.”

Nemechek’s teammate, Chandler Smith, would finish second to give Joe Gibbs Racing a 1-2 finish in a race that had many drivers outside their cars afterward taking water and resting after in-car temperatures neared 130 degrees. Several of the drivers either didn’t wear a “cool suit” or had malfunctions with the ones they did use.

Quite a few championship contenders had to work hard from starting in the back, such as Austin Hill, Sheldon Creed, and Jesse Love. For Creed, he was able to reach the top ten but would have an early exit due to mechanical issues.

 Love and Hill were able to finish third and fourth, with Noah Gragson taking a new team in Rette Jones Racing to a fifth-place finish. 

“I have no idea,” a smiling Love said on passing 69 cars on the day and finishing top five when his cool suit was not working properly.

“Just proud to be part of a team that doesn’t give up,” he continued. “That was probably the hottest I’ve ever been. Just proud of my guys.”

Riley Herbst, who also had issues with his cool suit finished in sixth and even said at times he was having vision issues. AJ Allmendinger, finished seventh, followed by Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, and Sam Mayer.

Defending champion Cole Custer leads the standings by 15 points over Chandler Smith, however, he is still in search of his first win of the season.

“I think I overdrove on that restart a little bit into Turn 1,” said Custer. “There’s a couple of things I could have done better. Everyone’s got dirty air, and man, it was hard to make speed. I felt like we were solid when we were in the top three cars, but once we got back there, it was tough to get the car to handle.”

“I can’t say enough about our guys. We’re bringing cars that compete for wins every week, it’s just heartbreaking every week not to win. We’re bringing good cars and leading laps, we’ll get it eventually. We’ll keep digging.”

The Xfinity Series head back to the streets of Downtown Chicago, where Custer won a rain-shortened race last season, for the 50-lap, 110-mile event. The race will take place this Saturday at 3:30 pm EST.