When the NASCAR Xfinity Series season wraps up in the fall, John Hunter Nemechek will be present in the #54 Toyota Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing. On Friday, JGR announced Nemechek will run three races in the #54: Bristol Motor Speedway (17 September), Texas Motor Speedway (16 October), and the finale at Phoenix Raceway (6 November).
Nemechek, who is celebrating his twenty-fourth birthday today, has been on a tear in the Camping World Truck Series since joining the Toyota camp for 2021. Driving for, JGR affiliate Kyle Busch Motorsports, he leads the points after ten races with three wins—including the most recent race at Charlotte—and eight top-ten finishes.
In 2019, he raced full-time in the Xfinity Series for GMS Racing. Although he finished seventh in points, the team shuttered the Xfinity programme at the end of the year. He returned to the series in May at Dover for Sam Hunt Racing, where he finished thirty-second. Nemechek’s lone series win came at Kansas in 2018.
Although Nemechek has never won at Bristol, Texas, or Phoenix in any of the national series, he finished in the top ten in every Xfinity start at Texas and Phoenix. After finishing thirteenth in his Bristol Xfinity début, he had a pair of top fives at the short track in 2019.
He posted on social media, “Excited for this opportunity to bring home more wins this year!”
The #54 serves as JGR’s multi-driver car with the likes of Ty Dillon, Ty Gibbs, and Kyle Busch splitting starts in 2021. Gibbs has won twice in the car while Busch, who is running Saturday’s Texas race, has one victory. The car is fifth in owner points after thirteen races, the most recent of which at Mid-Ohio on Saturday saw Gibbs finish third.
