Practice #1 : Darlington Raceway

• Darlington Raceway
• 3rd Annual Dead on Tools 200
• Pole Winner: John Hunter Nemechek
• Age: 24
• Team: No. 4 - Mobil 1 Toyota
• Owner: Kyle Busch Motorsports
• Crew Chief: Eric Phillips
• John Hunter Nemechek won the Pole Award for the 3rd Annual Dead on Tools 200 with a lap of 28.719 seconds, 171.232 mph.
• This is his fourth pole in 131 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races.
• This is his second pole and fourth top-10 start in 2022.
• This is his first pole in three races at Darlington Raceway.
• Ty Majeski (second) posted his fifth top-10 start of 2022 and his first in two races at Darlington Raceway.
• Grant Enfinger (third) posted his second top-10 start at Darlington Raceway. It is his third in seven races this season.
• Corey Heim (fifth) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

• Friday, May 6th, 2022
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

John Hunter Nemechek completes unfinished business with Darlington win

The fastest truck won Friday’s Dead On Tools 200 at Darlington Raceway, but not without much ado between the green flag and the checkers.

Pole winner John Hunter Nemechek fought through 10 cautions, an extra pit stop to tighten a loose wheel and a overtime restart to post his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory of the season, holding off hard-luck Carson Hocevar by .552 seconds in the two-lap shootout to the finish.

“Just a huge shoutout to all the guys that work on this No. 4 KBM Toyota Tundra,” Nemechek said after spinning his truck like a dervish in a celebratory burnout on the frontstretch.

“I thought we gave it away early, honestly, and we were able to rebound and battle back. I learned a lot tonight. I was finally able to bring home the first win of the year.”

Runner-up last fall at Darlington in a race he thought he should have won, Nemechek led a race-high 69 laps in triumphing for the first time at the Lady in Black and the 12th time in his career. In winning the pole earlier in the day, he was .432 seconds faster than second-place qualifier Ty Majeski.

Clearly, Nemechek had the speed, but his victory was by no means assured after he brought his truck to pit road under caution for a second time on Lap 61 to remedy a loose left-front wheel. That left Nemechek 26th for a restart on Lap 63, but by the end of Stage 2 on Lap 90 he had climbed back to fifth in the running order.

On Lap 123, he passed Christian Eckes for the lead and held it the rest of the way, through the two final cautions and the overtime.

Hocevar was the victor in Stage 2—the first stage win of his career—but he lost ground on pit road under caution for the stage break and ultimately recovered to restart side-by-side with Nemechek in the overtime.

Nemechek had the advantage of the outside lane for the final two laps and pulled away to win by the half-second margin.

“A lot of emotions,” said Hocevar, who ran a close second to Ben Rhodes in the previous race on Bristol Dirt. “I was freaking out for a second. I had an electrical issue, and every once in a while it would stumble, and it flat out shut off in the middle of (Turns) 1 and 2 coming to the white (flag)…

“The 4 truck (Nemechek) was really good. I was hoping I maybe could have got him. I would have done a lot into (Turns) 3 and 4. I was better than him in 1 and 2. He was better than me in 3 and 4, but I could have done a lot—just like every race car driver, right? But close once again. Hopefully, we’ll be one spot better next week.”

Grant Enfinger was third, followed by Majeski, Stage 1 winner Parker Kilgerman, Ryan Preece, Zane Smith and Tyler Ankrum.

Fifty-eight-year-old Todd Bodine, making his 796th NASCAR national series start en route to 800, came home ninth, posting his first top 10 since 2012, followed by Matt DiBenedetto in 10^th.

• Drivers Entered: 36
• Laps Scheduled: 147
• Laps Actual: 149 - NASCAR OVERTIME!
• Margin of Victory: 0.552 Seconds
• Time of Race: 2 Hours 13 Minutes 17 Seconds
• Average Speed: 91.625
• Cautions: 10 for 54 laps
• Lead Changes: 16
• Green Flag Passes: 1,354 (14.3 passes per green flag lap)

• Darlington Raceway
• 3rd Annual Dead on Tools 200
• Race Winner: John Hunter Nemechek
• Age: 24
• Team: No. 4 - Mobil 1 Toyota
• Owner: Kyle Busch Motorsports
• Crew Chief: Eric Phillips
• John Hunter Nemechek won the 3rd Annual Dead on Tools 200, his 12th victory in 131 Camping World Truck Series races.
• This is his first victory and fourth top-five finish in 2022.
• This is his first victory and third top-10 finish in three races at Darlington Raceway.
• Carson Hocevar (second) posted his second top-10 finish in three races at Darlington Raceway. It is his fourth top-10 finish in 2022.
• Grant Enfinger (third) posted his fourth top-10 finish in four races at Darlington Raceway.
• Dean Thompson (15th) was the highest finishing rookie.