After spending four part-time seasons and two full-time seasons in the NASCAR Truck Series, plus a part-time season and a full-time season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, John Hunter Nemechek made his debut as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver at the age of 22 with Front Row Motorsports in 2020.
But after just one season, in which he recorded three top 10 finishes and placed 27th in the standings, he opted to drop back down to the Truck Series and realign himself with Toyota.
He believed that by taking two steps back, he could better position himself to move even farther forward.
John Hunter Nemechek's gamble
He spent the next two seasons with Kyle Busch Motorsports, winning seven races along the way, before moving up to Joe Gibbs Racing's Xfinity Series team full-time in 2023, where he added seven more victories to go along with the one he earned as a part-time driver in 2021.
The 28-year-old Mooresville, North Carolina native gamble paid off, as he found himself back in the Cup Series in 2024 with Legacy Motor Club, a team that had just shifted manufacturers from Chevrolet to Toyota.
But the 2024 season was a struggle for the driver of the No. 42 Toyota. He finished 34th (last) in the point standings among full-time drivers, and by a relatively wide margin.
He did not score a single top five finish, and there were questions about whether or not he was truly the right driver for the upward-trending team, and whether or not his gamble from four years earlier truly had paid off.
JHN looking for more after resurgent 2025 season
He answered a lot of those questions in 2025, moving up nine positions in the point standings by scoring over 200 more points, marking a nearly 50% increase.
He also earned the first two top five finishes of his career, to go along with six other top 10 results. He found himself just one point behind veteran teammate Erik Jones in the standings at the end of the year.
Speaking to us thanks to a unique collaboration with longtime partner Mobil 1, Nemechek admitted that he is aiming for more improvement as he prepares to enter his third season with the Jimmie Johnson and Richard Petty-owned team in 2026.
"Consistency issues, more speed in our cars, being able to run up top shot a little bit better, and really on a more consistent basis," Nemechek told Beyond the Flag, regarding what he feels he can still improve upon in the new year.
"I feel like we got momentum towards the end of the year. We had some really good runs, and some not-so-great runs through 2025. So hopefully we can smooth that out, be a little bit more consistent, and ultimately just have more speed, be able to contend for top 10s, top 5s, and wins. I feel like we have the personnel and the power to do it. We just have to go out there and execute and do the best we can every single week."
Nemechek, Legacy Motor Club optimistic about 2026
He is hopeful that the winning trend can start with the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway next weekend. In three career Daytona 500 starts, his worst finish is 11th, and his average finish is 7.67. At Daytona, his average finish of 11th is quietly tops in the series among active drivers.
"I sure hope that we do," he said. "I’m confident in our superspeedway stuff. Normally we don’t qualify super great, but they race really good, and that’s what matters. I’m excited to get down there and get going, kicking off the regular season and ultimately getting our year started. A lot of confidence going in. I really like racing down there. We’ve led a lot of laps. It’s been fun. Hopefully we can all work together and have three cars in the show and do what we do best, and that’s race."
Johnson finished third in the 2025 Daytona 500, two spots ahead of Nemechek in fifth. Nemechek has embraced the opportunity to work directly with the seven-time champion over the past three seasons.
"It’s great," he said. "Being able to work with Jimmie has been an amazing deal for me. Basically, one of the best hype men I’ve been around in my career. Great boss, great friend, great team owner."
Johnson joined the team in 2023 as a co-owner, one year before Nemechek's arrival, after spending two years in the NTT IndyCar Series following his initial Cup Series retirement after the 2020 season.
"He’s had a lot of success and definitely knows how to get the job done," Nemechek continued. "We’ve been able to lean on him a lot, not only myself, but Erik as well, and ultimately just try to make the team better, make the organization better, make us better as drivers, and really just lean on each other the best we know how."
Nemechek is also looking forward to running his first Truck Series race at Daytona since 2022 ahead of his fourth career start in the "Great America Race". He is set to drive the No. 62 Toyota for Halmar Friesen Racing in Friday night's event.
"I don’t know if it’s super beneficial at a place like Daytona or a superspeedway," he responded when asked about the potential benefits of added track time. "But I do have my same spotter for the truck. We’ll be able to work together more over the weekend. Obviously we’ll work together first in the Duels before the Truck race. Just more reps, being able to understand each other. Same spotter as last year, but he was new to me then.
"You only get four superspeedway races in the Cup Series and two Atlanta races you can sort of classify that way; not a lot of experience. So yeah, it’s definitely beneficial for us to get on the same page and make adjustments before Sunday if needed."
Nemechek valuing continuity ahead of 2026 season
Speaking of building camaraderie, Nemechek is excited to not have to endure another crew chief change. Travis Mack is set to be back atop the pit box for the No. 42 team for the second consecutive season this year.
"I’m not learning somebody new again, which is nice," he admitted. "I feel like we have our communication pretty on point. The whole team is the same, really. So I feel really good about it. I feel like we can continue to build on what we had last year.
"When you start working with somebody new, you can say you kicked it off right away, and Travis and I did, but it still takes time to learn each other. It takes time to learn my feedback and my number scale of if I’m loose or tight and what adjustments need to be there. So it’s nice going in with that experience already in place and ultimately having a relationship already built that you’re not trying to chase, so you can put effort elsewhere."
Nemechek has won at every level he's been at so far, with an impressive total of 24 NASCAR national series victories to his name, but he has yet to find victory lane at the Cup level.
"I’ve been blessed to win in everything I’ve been in, except the Cup Series so far," he said. "It’s been a great opportunity. I’ve enjoyed growing up in the sport. From motocross to go-karts, Allison Legacy cars, super lates, pro lates, everything."
Even as a teenager, he knew he had what it took to excel at the highest level.
"The turning point for me when I really wanted to focus on stock car stuff was probably around 12 or 13, when I got in the Allison cars and super late models, and then ultimately into the Truck Series at 16," he said.
And in 2026, he has his best chance yet to prove it.
The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season is scheduled to get underway on Sunday, February 15 with the Daytona 500. Fox is set to provide live coverage of the 68th annual Great American Race from Daytona International Speedway beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV today and catch all of the action!