NASCAR: 10 drivers who won’t be back with their 2020 teams
By Asher Fair
Drivers moving on after 2020: John Hunter Nemechek
John Hunter Nemechek made a gamble similar to that of Corey LaJoie, but he did so after just one season with Front Row Motorsports, and that season was only his rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Nemechek had an impressive rookie season that saw him finished in ninth place at Darlington Raceway and record career-high finishes of eighth in both races at Talladega Superspeedway en route to a 27th place finish in the championship standings.
He also completed more laps than any other rookie in the field, and the rookie class of 2020 was stacked. Nemechek was the underrated star of that group coming out of the Xfinity Series with the “Big 3” of Tyler Reddick, Cole Custer and Christopher Bell, and he proved why he cannot be overlooked with a strong rookie campaign for one of the sport’s least competitive teams.
But after just one season, he made the decision to walk away from Bob Jenkins’s organization, and he won’t be back in the Cup Series this year. In fact, he is set to drop down two full levels to the Truck Series, but his gamble is a smart one.
Nemechek is set to compete for Kyle Busch Motorsports behind the wheel of the #4 Toyota, setting him up for a potential career path with Toyota. If and when 23XI Racing expand from their one-car effort to two cars, Nemechek has put himself in the best position to drive alongside Bubba Wallace.
The fact that he already has tons of experience, including Cup Series experience, despite only being 23 years old, should serve him well.