Jeremy Clements Discusses 2024 Xfinity Season, Challenges Faced as Owner-Driver

It’s been a less-than ideal season for Jeremy Clements, who only has one top-10 finish in 2024 and his worst average finish (23.1) since 2013.

But while Clements missed the playoffs in Friday night’s (Sept. 20) NASCAR Xfinity Series regular season finale at Bristol Motor Speedway, he started seventh, won stage two, scored 15 stage points and ended the night with a solid 12th-place finish. He did so after spending 78% of the laps inside the top 15 and recording an average running position of 12th — both of which mark personal bests for Clements this season.

Frontstretch interviewed Clements prior to Friday night’s race, where he discussed a variety of recent topics — including overtime, the (loss of) respect between competitors and the 2025 Xfinity schedule changes — as well as his 2024 season, approaching 500 consecutive starts and the challenges faced as an owner-driver in the series for more than 14 seasons.

Stephen Stumpf, Frontstretch: Walk me through your 2024 season up to this point.

Jeremy Clements: Oh boy, it’s kind of been a rough one, you know? I mean, we haven’t had the finishes that we’ve wanted at all. It’s just been kind of been a rough whole season really.

Eight races left, but our best finish is sixth at Atlanta, and then [there’s] a lot of good runs that got ended through wrecks or shooting our own selves in the foot. I remember Iowa, I ran out of gas out of nowhere, had a top 10 car that day; lost two laps.

And then just getting in wrecks that are not of our doing, you know. Just being in the middle of that 12th to 15th area, and then things happen. New Hampshire, we had a really fast car, and then we got ourselves out there at the end of race.

Just hasn’t been our year, to be honest. Been struggling to get the finishes we want. But I’m really looking forward to Bristol. This is a good track for us. Always love coming here.

Stumpf: To that point about the finishes and wrecks, overtime has become a hot button topic in recent weeks. As both a driver and a car owner, do you think there needs to be a change? Do you think NASCAR needs to step in with the way a lot of these races have been ending recently?

Clements: It’s unfortunate. Like last week [at Watkins Glen], we had a top 10 going. Caution came out with five [laps] to go, and then all hell broke loose. Everybody just running into everybody, and I was a victim of that. Going in turn 1, got my rear tires picked up in the turn, ran into the No. 98 [Riley Herbst], messed him up, messed my car up.

My car literally didn’t have a scratch on it till then, till the end of the race, and this thing’s needing half a body replaced now. It’s frustrating for sure, but it’s on the drivers.

It’s changed a lot with these young kids coming in. Just the respect out there that we used to have is gone for the most part, and it sucks it’s that way, but it is. People race different these days.

And yeah, I don’t know what you do. I don’t know what NASCAR does. Do they just have one overtime? It’s tough, and we’ve had the same rules for forever. I mean, nothing’s changed in such a long time; I don’t even remember the last time we had different overtime rules. So, hard to say. I mean, I can give my opinion, but what does it really matter? I don’t make the calls.

Stumpf: Do you feel like there’s a way to try and gain that respect among competitors back, or do you feel like we’re too far gone?

Clements: Probably too far gone. I mean, you race certain guys, and you help each other out. As far as might not give a guy a hard time if he’s faster than you, give him the finger out the window, let him go, and then they can give you the peace sign back.

And you know, that’s respect. I grew up watching Mark Martin do that. And unless it’s at the end of the race or it’s a lucky dog, I mean, you just race with respect. You don’t have to run through each other and do the things that you see a lot of the time out here.

Stumpf: This is now your 14th season driving for your own team in Xfinity. Talk about the highest highs — obviously your two wins at Road America and Daytona International Speedway — but also the low points. What has the journey been like up to this point?

Clements: That’s definitely a tough one. Racing for your own team is extremely hard, and it’s only gotten more difficult. The sport has gotten, financially, [to] where you got to have more money than ever.

It’s tough on that end. We need all the partners we have believe in us and behind us, and we need so many. We need them all to back us.

But yeah, winning Road America was phenomenal. We had a good car that day, and things worked out. And then Daytona is a speedway race. You just hope to survive those half the time, and finally one worked out our way.

When we can have our stuff together, not mess up or get in people’s wrecks, we can run really good. But when you’re in that middle tier, you’re just in the middle of a hornet’s nest all the time.

It’s hard. You’re just in the middle of all that. It can get frustrating. We tore up more equipment this year than ever. And boy, that you can tell in the bank account.

Stumpf: Bristol will be your 490th Xfinity start, [and you’re] getting closer to 500. Kenny Wallace has the most starts at 547, so you would theoretically break that number in 2026. Is that something you’ve known or have been following, and what would it mean to stand alone with the most starts in the series?

Clements: I mean, I didn’t follow it until last year or sometime when I passed into the top five. Then people like yourself start telling me this, but I don’t ever pay attention to it until I’m told.

But I guess it really says a lot about me and the team, that we’re racers. We want to be here and race, and that’s all it comes down to. I love racing, and it’s something I’ve been blessed to be able to do, even though it’s not the way I want to do it.

I’d love to be driving for a big team and just worrying about that part of it instead of owning your own team and worrying about every little thing that goes on with it. And that can be definitely stressful, but it’s still pretty cool that we’re going to hopefully get to that achievement, and we can be number one.

I know we’re the Iron Man right now [among active drivers]. So that’s really cool, says a lot. That’s not a goal I went to achieve, but hell, we got it. So let’s enjoy it a little bit. That’s says a lot about our team. … With racing, I want to be at every race I can, and it would be a disaster if you’re not, in my world.

Stumpf: Also looking ahead to next year, you guys will be heading to Mexico City. But also notable is that this year you had Portland International Raceway and Sonoma Raceway back-to-back, and for 2025, you have Mexico City in June, Sonoma in July and Portland in August. As an owner, how big is it to be back on that international stage? But at the same time, in having all those huge road trips in several months, how much of a cost is it to the team, both financially and just in terms of the mental toll of having to get everything out there?

Clements: Oh, man, it stresses you out already a little bit. I mean, it’s going to be a grind, and it’s going to be difficult on us to have the cars ready.

That’s a lot of road courses all in an area. I don’t think we’ve been to a road course yet that we haven’t had some damage from something. The cars just get beat up.

The road courses, like we’ve already talked about, the restarts at the end just go nuts. I think next year’s schedule is going to be the most grueling we’ve ever had, no doubt about it. I also think it’s cool to go back — well, I’ve never been to Mexico City to race, but I raced in Montreal twice. I really enjoyed that.

I don’t know the track at all at Mexico City, so I hope it’s a good track. … I hope it’s a great racetrack and it puts on a great show and we get the attendance and the fans out that we want and all that. But it’s going to be hard for me to get a sponsor too.

I haven’t had any of my partners knocking down the door to get on that race, so that’s a little concern on that end: who is going to be on the No. 51 for that race? That’s a little concerning to me. I think that’ll be the hardest one to get.

So besides that, in the money to go down there and do all that, I think I’m all about it; just getting it covered to do it is the hardest part.

Stumpf: What are some things that [fans] may not know about being both a team owner and driver? What’s something that you are in involved in that people may not realize?

Clements: Everything. I mean, from the setup of the car to what’s in the car, what brakes, what style NACA ducts are in the quarter windows. I mean, you name it. From trying to book travel to figuring out what food the guys are going to eat when we’re at the track, what shirts we’re going to wear, what hats we’re going to wear, driving the simulator — everything about it, I’ve got to have my hands on.

It’s a lot. It seems to get a little bit harder every year really. Just more to keep up with, from getting the sponsors, to keeping them happy and trying to do anything and more they ask for. Doing all the interviews, working out to try to stay in shape to drive the racecar, every little thing you can think of, making sure our haulers got everything in it we need. So there’s a lot that goes into it before we get to the track every week.

Stumpf: All of that’s worth it in the end, in the name of racing and being on the track, right?

Clements: Well, when you get to drive the car, that’s my favorite part about it all. So that’s the part that keeps you going and motivates you to keep all this rolling because it can definitely wear on you. But when you get to drive the car and you’re competitive and you’re battling guys and going fast, that’s what I was driven to do. That’s what continues to drive me.