John Hunter Nemechek drove to his fifth victory of the season at Pocono Raceway on Saturday afternoon. Nemechek bested team owner Kyle Busch to score Toyota’s 10th victory of the season. With his fifth-place finish, Austin Hill became the third Toyota driver to clinch his Playoff berth along with Nemechek and Ben Rhodes.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Pocono Raceway
Race 13 of 23 – 60 Laps, 150 Miles
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
2nd, KYLE BUSCH
3rd, Sheldon Creed*
4th, Tyler Ankrum*
5th, AUSTIN HILL
6th, MATT CRAFTON
10th, DEREK KRAUS
12th, CHRISTIAN ECKES
14th, TY MAJESKI
17th, BEN RHODES
20th, LAWLESS ALAN
23rd, RAY CICCARELLI
25th, CHANDLER SMITH
33rd, STEWART FRIESEN
35th, JOHNNY SAUTER
38th, DANNY BOHN
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK, No. 4 Power Up Premium Trail Mix Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 1st
When you got the caution, what was going through you mind?
“We didn’t have enough time there. We were running him down. We definitely had a really fast Power Up Toyota Tundra. Overall, huge shoutout to all of my guys. They never gave up. We weren’t very good in Stage 1. We kept working on it. Just thankful for the opportunity from Toyota, Jack (Irving), Tyler (Gibbs), David Wilson, Kyle (Busch), Samantha (Busch) that put this whole deal together. I’m proud of everyone at KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports), all of these guys, I feel like I have the best team in the garage and one of the best pit crews as well. How about all of these fans out here. I’ve never seen so many fans and so many campers here at Pocono. It’s really cool to see.”
When you came to Kyle Busch Motorsports, you said you wanted to win the championship. How are you keeping your momentum rolling?
“It really is. We’ve got fast trucks every single week. We struggled at Nashville last week. It was probably one of our worst races and we finished 10th. We just have to continue pushing, continue working. We can’t take these wins for granted. They are hard to get, so hopefully we can get a few more before the year is done, win the regular season championship and have a shot at Phoenix.”
How are you feeling after your fifth win of the season?
“I’m just the lucky one that gets to hold the steering wheel of these fast Toyota Tundras that Eric (Phillips, crew chief) and all of the guys at KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) build, the fab shop. There is just so much work that goes into building these trucks each and every week and a lot of paying attention to fine detail, and just continuing to try and make our trucks better each and every week. We had an off week at Nashville last week, so it feels good to come back and have speed from pretty much the first run of the race. We were able to work on it and get it better, and being able to beat Kyle (Busch) this year three out of his five races definitely means a lot to me and our group. I’m proud of the effort with everyone at KBM, Toyota, TRD. Thankful for the opportunity from Jack (Irving), Tyler (Gibbs), David Wilson, everyone at Toyota, Slugger Labbe, and obviously Kyle and Samantha (Busch) and everyone at Kyle Busch Motorsports for believing in me and giving me another shot.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 51 Cessna Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 2nd
Walk us through that final restart, and how John Hunter was able to get away?
“I didn’t get the best restart but we were all even going down into the corner. The 2 (Sheldon Creed) truck got off of me a little early pushing me, so I guess he didn’t launch me into the corner. That gave John Hunter (Nemechek) a little bit more to clear me, slide up in front of me, and once he slid me, I couldn’t get back to turn along side of him. We were still going to have a few more laps to try to figure it out and see what we were going to do. We know how fast these KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) trucks are and how fast the 4 truck is. It was going to be a high task to get him, but I got drilled in the left rear with a couple to go and was never going to be able to make up that distance and he handed the win to the 4 truck. That was our day, and that was our year, and when all is said and done, we move to ’22.”
AUSTIN HILL, No. 16 Toyota Tsusho Toyota Tundra, Hattori Racing Enterprises
Finishing Position: 5th
What more did you need today?
“Our truck was on the splitter a little bit to start out and we fell back a bit during the first stage. We worked on and got it pretty good. Scott (Zipadelli, crew chief) made some pretty good adjustments to make it a lot better than it was. This race is just so short, you just can’t really do a whole lot throughout the race and if you lose track position, it’s hard to get it back. I thought we had a top-five Toyota Tundra. I don’t know if we could have won the race. I felt like once you got single-filled out, it was just kind of follow the leader. The guy in front of you kind of had to mess up off the corner and you had to get a run on him. It seemed like as people got two-wide down the straightaway, then the guy behind you could suck up and you could go three-wide and clear him before you got to the corner, so it was kind of a frusterating race, how it unfolded, but it’s good to come out of here with a top-five with our Toyotaa Tsusho Tundra, but I’m just frustrated. Top-five is okay, but we need more.”
Toyota Racing PR
