John Hunter Nemechek wins first NASCAR Truck race of 2022

John Hunter Nemechek doesn’t care if he spoiled the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series‘ throwback party at Darlington Raceway on Friday night. He’s just happy to finally get his first win of the season.

Nemechek won the pole and was stout in the opening laps before facing challenges from Zane Smith and Parker Kligerman. The latter took the lead with less than ten laps remaining in the first stage to win ahead of Ross Chastain, Carson Hocevar, Grant Enfinger, Chandler Smith, Nemechek, Tanner Gray, Ben Rhodes, Matt Crafton, and Stewart Friesen. Reaume Brothers Racing team-mates Akinori Ogata and owner Josh Reaume were caught in an early wreck together while Lawless Alan spun at the midway point for the segment’s two cautions.

Stage #2 was the Niece Motorsports Extravaganza as Chastain and Hocevar led every lap save for three under caution (following Tate Fogleman‘s accident) by Todd Bodine, who incidentally produced a yellow flag of his own earlier in the segment. Chastain and Hocevar battled until the latter cleared his ally for good with six circuits left. Chastain, Kligerman, Enfinger, Nemechek, Christian Eckes, Crafton, Ryan Preece, Rhodes, and Chandler Smith rounded out the top ten.

The third stage ended two laps after it began when multiple drivers including David Gilliland Racing‘s Hailie Deegan and Tanner Gray crashed with Austin Wayne Self and Chase Purdy. Three more accidents occurred in the stage including Corey Heim‘s spin, Blaine Perkins and Fogleman wrecking, and Rhodes going around. The Rhodes caution set up overtime, where Hocevar hoped to not “lift until I saw God” in a last-ditch attempt to pass Nemechek but failed.

The win is Nemechek’s twelfth in the Truck Series and first since Pocono in June 2021.

“I thought we gave it away early honestly and we’re able to rebound and battle back so it’s cool,” said Nemechek.

Although Crafton finished fifth, he was disqualified after his truck’s front was ruled too low in post-race inspection; he is the second disqualification of the 2022 Truck season after Zane Smith at Las Vegas, the third of the year in any national series, and second in ThorSport Racing‘s history after Johnny Sauter at Atlanta in 2020. The penalty bumped Matt DiBenedetto into the top ten, while Bodine—who last raced in the Trucks nearly a decade ago before returning for a part-time schedule in an effort to reach 800 career starts—was promoted to ninth for his first top ten since an eighth at Texas in 2012.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	1	4	John Hunter Nemechek	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	149	Running
2	6	42	Carson Hocevar	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	149	Running
3	3	23	Grant Enfinger	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	149	Running
4	2	66	Ty Majeski	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	149	Running
5	9	75	Parker Kligerman	Henderson Motorsports	Chevrolet	149	Running
6	13	17	Ryan Preece	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	149	Running
7	4	38	Zane Smith	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	149	Running
8	12	16	Tyler Ankrum	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	149	Running
9	18	62	Todd Bodine	Halmar Friesen Racing	Toyota	149	Running
10	8	25	Matt DiBenedetto	Rackley WAR	Chevrolet	149	Running
11	23	52	Stewart Friesen	Halmar Friesen Racing	Toyota	149	Running
12	19	91	Colby Howard	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	149	Running
13	16	02	Jesse Little	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	149	Running
14	33	40	Dean Thompson	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	149	Running
15	24	56	Timmy Hill	Hill Motorsports	Toyota	149	Running
16	11	98	Christian Eckes	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	149	Running
17	20	24	Jack Wood	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	149	Running
18	14	19	Derek Kraus	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	149	Running
19	26	45	Lawless Alan	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	149	Running
20	28	18	Chandler Smith	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	149	Running
21	29	20	Danny Bohn	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	149	Running
22	5	51	Corey Heim	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	149	Running
23	32	12	Spencer Boyd	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	149	Running
24	15	99	Ben Rhodes	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	148	Running
25	10	41	Ross Chastain*	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	148	Running
26	31	22	Austin Wayne Self	AM Racing	Chevrolet	147	Running
27	36	33	Josh Reaume	Reaume Brothers Racing	Toyota	147	Running
28	25	1	Hailie Deegan	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	137	Accident
29	27	46	Brennan Poole*	G2G Racing	Toyota	125	Running
30	30	9	Blaine Perkins	CR7 Motorsports	Chevrolet	124	Accident
31	34	30	Tate Fogleman	On Point Motorsports	Toyota	123	Accident
32	21	44	Kris Wright	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	105	Accident
33	17	15	Tanner Gray	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	98	Accident
34	22	61	Chase Purdy	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	97	Accident
35	35	43	Akinori Ogata	Reaume Brothers Racing	Toyota	54	Engine
36	7	88	Matt Crafton	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	149	Running (DSQ)

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Truck points