John Hunter Nemechek, full-time driver of Legacy Motor Club's No. 42 Toyota, was not behind the wheel of the No. 42 car this past weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
With Dollar Tree, the title sponsor of the race and a longtime partner of Legacy Motor Club, celebrating their 40-year anniversary, the team opted to have Nemechek run the No. 40 Toyota in the Dollar Tree 301.
It marked the first time a Cup race other than the Daytona 500 featured a No. 40 car since Landon Cassill ran full-time for Hillman Smith Motorsports in 2015 and wrapped up the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Nemechek was unsurprisingly sponsored by Dollar Tree in Sunday's race, which he finished in 31st.
John Hunter Nemechek not in the No. 40 car at Daytona
But that number change was a one-off, and Nemechek is set to go back to his usual No. 42 for the remainder of the 2026 season, beginning with Saturday night's regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway.
Nemechek's one race in the No. 40 car notably still counted toward the No. 42 team's position in the owner standings. Just as Nemechek is 29th in the driver point standings, the No. 42 team is 29th in the owner point standings, both with 394 points. Both have been eliminated from advancing to the 16-driver, 10-race postseason.
Nemechek has never finished the Daytona summer race lower than 17th in three previous starts, and his 26th place DNF in this year's Daytona 500 is his only finish lower than 17th in seven career starts at the track. His fifth place finish in the 2025 Daytona 500 is one of his three career top five finishes. He also finished seventh in 2024.
Tune in to NBC at 7:30 p.m. ET this Saturday, August 28 for the live broadcast of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 from Daytona International Speedway. Start a free trial of FuboTV today and catch all of the action from the "World Center of Racing" to conclude the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series regular season!
Add us as a preferred source on Google