By Aaron Bearden, Motorsports Editor
HAMPTON, Ga. — Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) owner Chip Ganassi probably summed up team newcomer John Hunter Nemechek’s NASCAR XFINITY Series debut best.
“He had a full day,” he said.
Nemechek overcame two near-crashes and an early flat tire with a late march through the field to claim a fourth-place finish in Saturday’s Rinnai 250 – his first race in a partial 2018 slate behind the wheel of CGR’s No. 42 Chevrolet.
“Overall a very great day,” Nemechek said. “We cut down a right-front early on in the race, and had to rebound from that. We went a lap down, ended up getting the (free pass) and came back through the field.”
The Mooresville, N.C. native started the weekend off strong, sitting near the top of the speed charts throughout Friday’s practice sessions and qualifying third for the race on Saturday. But from the moment the green flag waved, the rookie’s Atlanta experience turned into a battle for survival.
Stage 1 of the 163-lap event proved chaotic for Nemechek. The 20-year-old slid around like the rest of the field in the opening laps, searching for grip on the aged Atlanta racing surface.
When eventual race winner Kevin Harvick began to close in on him, Nemechek’s team advised him to shadow the veteran and gain experience. But when Harvick closed in on Nemechek’s left-rear it sent the third-generation driver sideways, forcing him to make a save that led to lost time.
“That was just a circumstance of using the front bumper and getting them sideways,” Nemechek said of the incident. “It is what it is.”
A few laps later Nemechek was riding in the top 10 when another spot of contact from Elliott Sadler sent him sliding to the inside of the frontstretch. The move sent the rookie into the path of Cole Custer, who was forced to take evasive action to avoid crashing them both.
The resulting move led Custer into a hard crash.
🙈 @ColeCuster00 gets turned around early in the #Rinnai250. pic.twitter.com/bnli8xfkzG
— NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts (@NASCAROReillyAP) February 24, 2018
“I have to apologize to Cole Custer,” Nemechek said. “(I had) no intentions on getting into him there, but I got hit in the right-rear coming off of (Turn) 4, I think it was by Elliott Sadler, and it turned me sideways.
“He was just wrong spot, wrong time. I kind of tail-slapped him. I apologize to those guys.”
Nemechek continued on without damage, but was trapped a lap down shortly afterward when a flat tire forced him to pit road with eight laps remaining in Stage 1. The rookie avoided damage once again, but he would have to march through the field.
He would do just that. Nemechek rejoined the lead lap during Stage 2, and when the race’s final stage went caution-free he staged a steady rise through the XFINITY Series field. By the time the checkered flag flew, the rookie had passed former Championship 4 participants Sadler and Justin Allgaier en-route to a top five.
Afterwards Nemechek emerged from his machine with a smile. Both Ganassi and father Joe Nemechek stopped by to congratulate him on a good result as he debriefed with his team and handled mandatory media abilities.
John Hunter’s run was an expected one for father Joe, but the result left him thrilled with his son’s effort.
“Learning day, I guess is the best way you can put it,” Joe said of John Hunter’s run. “From having a fast car at the beginning, getting tagged. Almost spun out twice there at the beginning from getting hit. Then to overcome – he had a tire go down, had to hit pit road and made it. Got it changed, got the (free pass) and drove from the back to the front.
“He definitely passed more cars than anybody today. In a season debut, that’s probably the hardest thing ever to overcome. When you have adversity and just all of the things that are going against you stacking up, then you rebound to have a fourth-place finish. Pretty incredible day.”
Before making his way over to the frontstretch for Truck Series driver introductions, Joe took a moment to debrief the race with Ganassi. For the father, who supplied his son with the NEMCO Motorsports ride he parlayed into five NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victories and the CGR opportunity, it was a moment that inspired both pride and optimism.
“(Chip) is happy, and he keeps telling me as a dad, ‘You’ve gotta be so proud.’
“And I am. I just know how capable of a race car driver he is given the right tools. We’ve been able, as far as myself and our family team, have been able to give him the tools he needed to get to this point. Now to make the next step you’ve gotta have more tools.
‘Chip’s gonna give that to him. I think you’re going to see him be very competitive this year.”