John Hunter Nemechek's NextGen Inexperience Makes Him a Longshot
8 months agoDespite earning a top-10 finish at Daytona, John Hunter Nemechek's return to the Cup Series has been a surprisingly disappointing one, as he has zero laps led and no other top-20 race finishes despite retaining Ben Beshore as crew chief, who he dominated the Xfinity Series with last year. Nemechek's speed percentile of 26.77 lags his teammate, Erik Jones', 45.55 to an even greater degree than Noah Gragson lagged Jones the year before. Even at Phoenix where the other Toyotas dominated, Nemechek was largely nowhere to be seen and he qualified 26th for this weekend's Bristol event. There's no disputing Nemechek's talent based on his minor league results, but it seems like the team isn't gelling yet, perhaps because of his inexperience in the NextGen car. Nemechek will probably gain speed as the season progresses, but it's hard to envision a good run at Bristol, a track where he's never won.
Source: Racing Reference
Source: Racing Reference