Nemechek Embracing Championship Opportunity After Uncertain Season

Column By: DAVID SCOTT / NASCAR – CHARLOTTE, NC – Nothing comes easily for John Hunter Nemechek.

Nemechek doesn’t feel fortunate just to be one of eight drivers in this season’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series playoffs, which start Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1 p.m. ET on FS1). He’s glad he’s racing at all.

Earlier this season, funding was threatening to dry up — again — for Nemechek and his No. 8 NEMCO Motorsports Chevy. That’s been a continuing problem for Nemechek’s Mooresville, N.C.-based team, which has struggled financially in each of the five years that he’s raced in the Camping World Truck Series.

Nemechek hasn’t let the consistent lack of sponsorship affect his performance on the track. Entering this season, he had three career victories and advanced to the playoffs in 2016.

But after seven races this season, Nemechek had funding for only a few more events, including the following week at Gateway Motorsports Park. After that — who knew what would happen.

Nemechek, however, had other things in mind. He won at Gateway, then again the following week at Iowa. Those two ultra-timely results helped convince sponsors — chiefly Fire Alarm Services — to re-up with Nemechek. That helped him complete the regular season and on into the playoffs, except for two races in the postseason he hopes will soon be filled.

“Winning those two races were definitely emotional, not knowing how many races we were going to get the rest of the year,” said the third-seeded Nemechek at NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs Media Day. “We had to find some sponsorship or we were done.”

For now, Nemechek just hopes his results will continue to attract much-needed dollars to help keep the team afloat.

“We set the bar high for what we do on and off the track,” he said. “I try and focus on driving, not funding. We do the best we can do to have winning equipment. We want to run up front and win races and stay locked in during the playoffs.”

But as for sponsorship, Nemechek said: “We definitely need something. It stinks, but we’re doing everything we can.”

ROOKIES MAKE THEIR PRESENCE FELT

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is known as a place where young drivers can develop. That’s been the case this season, with three rookies advancing to the playoffs. Two others — Ben Rhodes and top-seeded Christopher Bell — are in their second seasons on the circuit.

There’s no doubt the rookies — Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric and Kaz Grala — are hoping for the best. But there’s also a “let’s-not-mess-this-up” kind of attitude that might serve them well.

“We’ve never been to these (playoff) tracks before,” said Cindric, who qualified for the postseason by finishing sixth in points. “We haven’t been through the cutoff rounds. There are no rookie tires any more. We’ve just got to act like we belong and live to see another day.”

Said Grala, whose victory in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway qualified as one of the surprises of NASCAR’s year so far: “There’s stress there because you don’t want to make mistakes. You make a mistake (in the playoffs) and the whole season could be taken away. There’s added pressure in the back of your mind. ‘If I make this pass, I can stay in the playoffs. Or maybe not, it’s better not to screw it up.’ A veteran gets used to that.”

Grala seems comfortable with what has so far been a one-hit wonder kind of a season. He actually said he’s looking forward to racing at Talladega (the first round’s final race), which is run on NASCAR’s biggest and fastest track.

“I hope I don’t lose my (superspeedway) luck,” he said.

How young are Grala and Cindric? Both graduated from high school last spring, well after the Trucks season began. Grala said he will enroll at Georgia Tech in January.

“I have no idea how I’m going to balance that with my racing schedule,” said Grala, 18. “I’ve got to start to figure it out.”

Cindric, 19, said finishing up high school while also racing was tough.

“I was lucky my teachers were flexible,” he said. “I had to make sure my mom didn’t kick me around if I didn’t make good grades.”

CRAFTON, SAUTER BRING THE EXPERIENCE

Three of the past four NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championships have been won by two drivers in this season’s playoffs — Johnny Sauter (2016) and Matt Crafton (2013 and ’14). Erik Jones, now a Monster Cup Series driver, won the title in 2015.

Sauter has momentum, entering the playoffs with a victory last week at Chicago (he also won earlier at Dover) and has 25 playoff points.

“Momentum is a big part of this sport,” Sauter said. “We’ve had a dominant truck and I think we’ve saved our bullets for go time.”

Crafton said the pressure he felt in winning his second championship in 2014 was different than what he felt a year earlier. He hopes he can continue to handle the intensity that comes from the postseason.

“I remember there was so much pressure on you the first time,” said Crafton, the fourth seed this season. “The second one was more like, ‘what happens, happens.’ But you’re always nervous. You don’t want any gremlins there that can make things go wrong.”