An ‘aggressive’ John Hunter Nemechek is ready to take risks in his Xfinity series return with JGR

John Hunter Nemechek moved to JGR Xfinity series team following KBM’s TRD exit and his second impressive year in the Truck series.


An ‘aggressive’ John Hunter Nemechek is ready to take risks in his Xfinity series return with JGR

John Hunter Nemechek

John Hunter Nemechek is in his redemption arc in NASCAR. He is again climbing back the premier stock car racing tiers to prove his worth and land the cup series seat. Nemechek is set to drive full-time in the Xfinity Series for Joe Gibbs Racing. He joins Sammy Smith in JGR’s 23 Xfinity series season as the team hopes to retain the driver’s championship Ty Gibbs brought in last season.

ADVERTISEMENT

Nemechek joined TRD in 2021 after his journey with JGR to NASCAR’s top ended in disappointment. He made it to the cup series in 2020 with Front Raw Motorsports and finished the season with 3 Top 10s at P27. The then 23 years old decided to join TRD just like his father and 4 times up race winner Joe Nemechek did in the later part of his career. But Unlike Joe, John has had a fruitful stint with the manufacturer.

He is the supposed future of JGR as both Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. are nearing the end of their career. The latter is expected to retire soon. One of the major factors Nemechek brings to the table is his aggressiveness. Though it had often put him in trouble, it paid off for him most of the time. In a recent interview with Fox, Nemechek pointed out that he will not abandon his aggressive style of arcing regardless of the criticism.

I don’t really listen to that. For me, obviously, I’ve been aggressive my whole career, right? I’ve won races that way. I’ve put myself in contention that way. But at times, it definitely needs to be a little bit more calm. But that’s who I am,” John Hunter Nemechek said.

ADVERTISEMENT

In case you missed it: “Lightning McQueen to JR Motorsports confirmed”- Watch: lightning strikes Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Xfinity outfit JRM headquarters

John Hunter Nemechek understands his mistakes and is ready for what’s ahead of him

John Hunter Nemechek
John Hunter Nemechek (Credits: Trackmasters)

Nemechek pointed out that he sometimes put himself in positions he should have been at the age of 25. He said, “I feel like being the guy at 25 I shouldn’t make those mistakes. I put that on myself and have to continue to grow in that aspect. … At times, I feel like I might not have put myself in the smartest of places,”.

He added that the Truck series demanded those smart aggression from him. Nemechek added, “But at the same time, risk versus reward. The racing keeps changing and everyone in the truck series is super, super aggressive. You’ve got to try and take chances when you can, but at the same time, be smarter about it,”.

He shared the disappointment of ending the season P5 though he scored two wins.  “It was definitely disappointing the way that our season ended, feeling like we had more potential to finish stronger than we did. But all in all, we won a couple races and put ourselves in contention. It just wasn’t our year. And we struggled a little bit to close races. We were fast every week though,” says Nemechek.

ADVERTISEMENT

Nemechek is ready to shake off all that drama and prepare for a fruitful future. He says, “You shake off most of the drama and just keep doing your deal and go to the racetrack with the mindset to try and do the best you can and try and win races. That’s what I’m here to do,”

The ex-KBM driver pointed out that he isn’t now as concerned about his future as he used to be when he was young. He said, “The future will take care of itself. When I was younger, I used to be worried about the future. I used to lose sleep over the future. There’s times where you definitely think about that, but at the same time I would rather lose sleep over the next race than focusing three years ahead,”.

Related Stories: