John Hunter Nemechek

Nemechek in 2020

**John Hunter Nemechek** is an American professional stock car driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Pepsi Cup Series, driving the No.9 Chevrolet for Petty Enterprises.

He is the son of Joe Nemechek.

## Career

### 2019: First Starts

On October 29th, it was announced Nemechek  would make his NASCAR Pepsi Cup debut in the 2019 AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway driving the no.35 Ford for Front Row Motorsports in preparation to replace David Ragan in FRM’s no.38 Ford. Nemechek finished 22nd in his debut. It was later announced that Nemechek would race in the final two races as well.

The following week at ISM Raceway, Nemechek and his father, Joe, made motorsports history by being the first father-son duo to race in all three main series in one weekend. Nemechek finished 28th, while his father finished 34th.

Nemechek then competed in the season closing Steven Universe: Future 400 presented by Ford at Homestead Miami Speedway.  He finished 24th.

### 2020: Rookie Season

Beginning in 2020, Nemechek officially took over FRM’s no.38 Ford. Additionally, Nemechek would compete for the 2020 Rookie of the Year honors against Tyler Reddick, Cole Custer, Christopher Bell, and Brennan Poole.

Nemechek began the 2020 season, 11th in the Daytona 500, the highest finishing rookie in  the event.

The following three races saw Nemechek finish 24th at Las Vegas, then two finishes of 25th at Auto Club and Phoenix.   Two months later after the pandemic put the sport on hold for two months in the returning race in the Real Heroes 400 at Darlington, Nemechek scored his first top ten by finishing ninth.  Two weeks later Nemechek began a top twenty streak starting with a 16th in the 2020 Coca Cola 600, followed by two more with both being 13th at the Alsco Uniforms 500 at Charlotte and the Food City Supermarket Heroes 500 at Bristol. However the streak ended at Atlanta after finishing 23rd. Three weeks later at Talladega, Nemechek recorded his second top ten after avoiding a crash on the final lap to finish 8th.

The rest of the year saw eight more top twenties and another 8th at Talladega after avoiding the many crashes the races the had.  However Nemechek suffered five DNF’s (all due to crashes), and finished 27th in points.

On November 16, 2020, Nemechek parted ways with Front Row Motorsports.

### 2021-Present Petty Enterprises

A week after parting ways with Front Row Motorsports, many assumed he would sign a deal with Kyle Busch Motorsports to race for them in the NASCAR Sierra Mist Truck Series.

But it was instead announced that Nemechek would be joining Petty Enterprises and the No.9 Chevrolet beginning in 2021.  Also his sponsor, Fire Alarm Series would be joining the team with him alongside fellow Petty partners including Armoreall, Petty’s Garage, and Tide.

Nemechek began the 2021 Season, 30th in the Daytona 500, after falling many laps down from suffering damage in a lap 14 crash.  Nemechek ran well throughout 2021, gaining four top tens and multiple top twenties with a best finish of 7th at Daytona in August. Nemechek finished 24th in points.

On November 18th, it was announced Nemechek would return to Petty Enterprises in 2022, along with a contract that will go through 2024.

Nemechek began 2022, 40th in the Daytona 500 after being swept up in a crash with Kyle Larson, Brett Moffitt, Todd Gilliland, and Noah Gragson on lap 190.  Nemechek then finished 14th at Auto Club, rebounding from the bad finish.

Then later at the 2022 Coca Cola 600, Nemechek scored his first top five, by finishing 3rd after dodging many of the accidents the race had.