Back in July, John Hunter Nemechek was just inches away from a big win at Lucas Oil Raceway in Clermont, Indiana. This past Sunday, the 17-year-old made sure that he wouldn’t be a part of any such drama.
Nemechek dominated 98 of the 100 laps of Sunday's Fall Brawl 100 JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour late model event at the famed 0.686-mile oval.
“It was a pretty flawless,” Nemechek said of his No. 8 car after the race. “It started to get a little tight there at the end, but we kept our focused and keep on digging through it. My guys put all their work into this car and I can’t thank them enough for it.
"We messed one up the last time we were here for a Super Late Model race and lost to Kyle Busch. We came back with a vengeance and had to at least get one win today.”
Nemechek was the fast qualifier and started sixth after the invert. He didn’t waste any time as he made a bold three-wide move on the inside going into turn one on the opening lap to work his way up to third.
“They kind of bottled up on me on the start and I had a run,” Nemechek said. “Thought I would try to do something.”
He inherited the lead after Tristan Van Wieringen and Kyle Jones were battling for the lead and the two made contact thus making impact with the turn one wall. After a 45-minute red flag to repair the SAFER barrier, Nemechek took over the top spot on the restart on lap 2 and wasn’t challenged all the way to the checkered flag.
This was his third win in the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour this season. His previous wins came at SpeedFest in January and at the Milwaukee Mile in June.
Nemechek also competed in the ARCA/CRA Super Series powered by JEGS 100 where qualified second.
He started eighth after the invert and got up to as high as third. But on a restart on lap 45, Nemechek and Rick Turner made contact causing left front damage to Nemechek’s car. Nemechek fell back and eventually dropped out of the race from the damage finishing 23rd.
Nemechek’s next event will be the PASS South event at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, North Carolina on Saturday, October 18th.
For more information, please visit www.johnhunternemechek.com and follow him on Twitter via @JohnNemechek.