RACE RECAP – Darlington – John Hunter Nemechek / No. 26 Stillhouse® Classic Vodka Toyota GR Supra

May 9, 2022

JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK

RACE REPORT

MAHINDRA ROXOR 200 AT DARLINGTON RACEWAY
NO. 26 STILLHOUSE® CLASSIC VODKA TOYOTA GR SUPRA

EVENT INFORMATION

  • Date: May 7, 2022
  • Event: Mahindra ROXOR 200 (Round 11 of 33)
  • Location: Darlington Raceway
  • Format: 147 Laps (Stages 45 laps / 90 laps / 147 laps)
  • Start/Finish: 23rd / 4th (Running, +19 positions)

KEY NOTES

  • John Hunter Nemechek and the Stillhouse® Classic Vodka team solidified Sam Hunt Racing’s third Top-5 finish in its history with a fourth-place finish in the Mahindra ROXOR 200 at Darlington Raceway on Saturday afternoon.
  • This marks the second-highest finish in team history and second top-five of the 2022 season.
    • Third – Richmond Raceway (2021 – Nemechek)
    • Fourth – Darlington Raceway (Spring 2022 – Nemechek)
    • Fifth – Phoenix Raceway (Spring 2022 – Nemechek – 11 laps led)
  • The weekend got off to a blistering start when Nemechek was second-fastest on the leaderboard during Friday evening’s practice session.
  • Rain unfortunately cancelled qualifying on Friday afternoon resulting in the field being set by the rulebook.
  • The No. 26 Stillhouse® Classic Vodka team started 23rd.
  • Nemechek was in position to grab the win prior to the Lap 136 caution with 11 laps remaining.
  • Nemechek was in second, chasing down the leader prior to the caution flag waving.
  • The team is confident that if the caution never came out, Nemechek could have landed in Victory Lane. 
  • Sam Hunt Racing resides 15th in Owner Points following the event at The Lady in Black.

QUOTES

How do you feel about your race today and another top-five finish for Sam Hunt Racing?
“We unloaded yesterday and had a really fast Stillhouse, 11-11 Toyota GR Supra. This Sam Hunt Racing machine was quick. All the guys gave me a great car here. Had to start back because we didn’t get to qualify and we were able to get into the top-10 I think in the first stage, made some adjustments, got it better. And then I thought we were going to have a shot at the win there until the caution came out and lost a few spots on pit road there. The pit crew did awesome for not running up run every week and maintaining most of the time. So shout out to the Sam Hunt Racing guys. I think that’s three or four or five starts in this car and I think three out of the five are top five finishes so pretty proud of everyone in the organization.”
 
After two strong races at Darlington, what does this do for your overall momentum?
“I feel like it’s good no matter what series you’re running in. I feel like the XFINITY car can translate over to the truck and truck and translate over to the XFINITY car and I feel like I learned a lot last night in the truck race. Had a really good Toyota Tundra TRD PRO and that carried over into today. Our Toyota GR Supra was really fast. Just needed track position to start off. We battled our way through the field and made the right adjustments I felt like and had a shot there until the caution came out and just lined up wrong. Chose restarts wrong but we’ll learn from it and now we’ll go race I think seven or eight more weeks straight in the truck series trying to pick up some more wins.”
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— John Hunter Nemechek, Driver of the No. 26 Stillhouse® Classic Vodka Toyota GR Supra.

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