It came down to the final lap. With just three corners remaining in Friday night’s Kansas Lottery 200 at Kansas Speedway, John Hunter finally caught and passed Carson Hocevar to take his second win of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season.
It completed a perfect weekend for Nemechek, scoring the pole and two stage wins alongside the overall victory, but cost runner-up Carson Hocevar a storybook win. Phil Gould, Hocevar’s crew chief, gambled by keeping his driver on track during the final round of pit stops, leaving the 42 truck with a twenty second lead over Nemechek. It’s an important win for Nemechek, who’s faced questions about his performance this season.
“I got nervous there for a couple laps actually with all the lapped traffic in front of me and I kept dirtying myself with the dirty air,” Nemechek admitted. “I had to play it smarter and I didn’t play it smart there for a couple laps. I got myself a little bit behind, but had huge speed and got a huge run off turn four. I knew that the 42 Carson Hocevar was saving fuel too and trying to block there.”
“Just proud of all my guys, proud to get back to victory lane for the second time this year,” he added. We’re a little behind from last year. But I said I would rather win five races in the Playoffs and win a championship than win five races in the regular season and we’re going to try to do that.”
Despite a valiant effort from Hocevar, he couldn’t hold off Nemechek’s fresh tires. But he used every bit of his Chevy’s performance, even running out of fuel in the final turn and coasting across the line. Still, Hocevar was defeated after he climbed out of his truck.
“Phil Gould made a hell of a call,” Hocevar said. “We deserved to win that race, just on strategy. We were nowhere near the best car. Seems like I always run second to [Nemechek], but they were the class of the field all night. We got beat. We had the winning strategy. It just didn’t work out,” he trailed off.
Part time Truck Series driver Ryan Preece finished third, ahead of Playoff drivers Zane Smith and Grant Enfinger, both of whom advanced to the Round of 8.
The drivers who advanced and will continue in the Playoffs are winner John Hunter Nemechek, as well as Grant Enfinger, Chandler Smith, Zane Smith, Ty Majeski, Stewart Friesen, Ben Rhodes, and Christian Eckes. It was Eckes’ climb to tenth in the final laps that ultimately pushed Hocevar below the cutline despite finishing second.
The Truck Series returns next Thursday for the UNOH 250 presented by Ohio Logistics at Bristol Motor Speedway.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race – Inaugural Kansas Lottery 200
Kansas Speedway
Kansas City, Kansas
Friday, September 9, 2022
1. (1) John Hunter Nemechek (P), Toyota, 134.
2. (15) Carson Hocevar (P), Chevrolet, 134.
3. (7) Ryan Preece (P), Ford, 134.
4. (9) Zane Smith (P), Ford, 134.
5. (12) Grant Enfinger (P), Chevrolet, 134.
6. (5) Chandler Smith (P), Toyota, 134.
7. (3) Corey Heim # (P), Toyota, 134.
8. (2) Ty Majeski (P), Toyota, 134.
9. (18) Colby Howard, Chevrolet, 134.
10. (4) Christian Eckes (P), Toyota, 134.
11. (24) Parker Kligerman, Toyota, 134.
12. (14) Matt Dibenedetto, Chevrolet, 134.
13. (6) Ben Rhodes (P), Toyota, 134.
14. (19) Tyler Ankrum, Toyota, 134.
15. (8) Matt Crafton (P), Toyota, 133.
16. (10) Tanner Gray, Ford, 133.
17. (26) Bret Holmes, Chevrolet, 133.
18. (30) Kaz Grala, Chevrolet, 133.
19. (25) Timmy Hill, Toyota, 133.
20. (11) Stewart Friesen (P), Toyota, 133.
21. (13) Derek Kraus, Chevrolet, 133.
22. (17) Hailie Deegan, Ford, 133.
23. (23) Dean Thompson #, Chevrolet, 133.
24. (21) Kaden Honeycutt, Toyota, 133.
25. (22) Chase Purdy, Toyota, 132.
26. (27) Jack Wood #, Chevrolet, 132.
27. (16) Bayley Currey(i), Chevrolet, 132.
28. (33) Jesse Little, Chevrolet, 132.
29. (32) Tyler Hill, Toyota, 130.
30. (29) Blaine Perkins #, Chevrolet, 130.
31. (28) Lawless Alan #, Chevrolet, 130.
32. (36) Mason Maggio, Toyota, 126.
33. (34) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 124.
34. (31) Brennan Poole, Toyota, 123.
35. (35) Armani Williams, Chevrolet, Too Slow, 86.
36. (20) Brett Moffitt(i), Chevrolet, Engine, 73.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 118.023 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 42 Mins, 11 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.815 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 4 for 25 laps.
Lead Changes: 11 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: J. Nemechek (P) 1-7;T. Majeski (P) 8-20;J. Nemechek (P) 21-33;T. Majeski (P) 34;J. Nemechek (P) 35-60;Z. Smith (P) 61;J. Nemechek (P) 62-102;Z. Smith (P) 103;G. Enfinger (P) 104;C. Eckes (P) 105;C. Hocevar (P) 106-133;J. Nemechek (P) 134.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): John Hunter Nemechek (P) 5 times for 88 laps; Carson Hocevar (P) 1 time for 28 laps; Ty Majeski (P) 2 times for 14 laps; Zane Smith (P) 2 times for 2 laps; Grant Enfinger (P) 1 time for 1 lap; Christian Eckes (P) 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 4,66,98,51,38,17,19,18,88,15
Stage #2 Top Ten: 4,38,17,98,51,66,16,19,88,42
- Christian Eckes makes history in dominant Truck Series win at Nashville - June 28, 2024
- Ross Chastain and others look to upset Hendrick dominance at Nashville - June 27, 2024
- Chase Briscoe and Josh Berry impress for soon-to-close SHR - June 23, 2024