Top Dog: John Hunter Nemechek
Let’s face it, Legacy Motor Club has been horrendous this season.
Most of that has been from rotten fortunes, but the speed sure has not made up for it.
What’s the good thing about a 36-race season, however?
There is time to find a silver lining, and that is something that Legacy has accomplished before. For example, Erik Jones landed in victory lane at Darlington Raceway in 2022 despite missing the playoffs (the team was then branded as Petty GMS Motorsports).
For John Hunter Nemechek, a scenario like Jones’ that year was badly needed, as he had not finished inside the top 10 and only had one top 15 since New Hampshire Motor Speedway in June. But with some gambling, he finally cracked the top 10 in the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Oct. 20).
The first stage wasn’t promising for Nemechek, as he finished 27th after starting 26th. However, with some adjustments in stage two and strategy throughout the field thanks to a couple of cautions, the car came alive, and he drove up to 13th by the end of the second frame.
Nemechek flirted with the top 10 during the final stage on pure speed, but strategy was still one of the top cards in the deck in the closing laps. Nemechek stretched his fuel run late into race, cracking the top five at one point before sliding back to ninth at the checkered flag.
The 27-year-old earned his fourth top 10 of the season in just his second start with Brian Campe as crew chief, a move made before the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL that saw Nemechek’s former crew chief, Ben Beshore, move over to Jones’ No. 43.
Whether this blossoms into a late-season surge to cap off the 2024 season remains to be seen, but it’s important for Nemechek to string some momentum together. For a driver who dropped back to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series after having a NASCAR Cup Series ride, worked his way back up the ranks and came into 2024 as a top prospect, the season has definitely not gone according to plan.
But there are three races left, and those can make more of an impact going into next year than anticipated.
Notable Underdog Runs
With disaster striking several top contenders throughout the race, the top 20 was filled with underdogs. Leading the way in that category was Corey LaJoie.
LaJoie returned to Las Vegas with a chip on his shoulder. He displayed loads of speed in the spring race with Spire Motorsports, running in the top five only to have late-race hiccups sink him to finish 32nd.
This time, LaJoie didn’t let the opportunity slip out of his grip. He also improved over the course of the race, getting up to 12th by the end of stage two. He got as high as seventh during the final stage, using some fuel gambling to gain as much track position as possible. In the end, he finished 14th, his third top 20 in four starts with Rick Ware Racing and his best showing at Las Vegas. On top of that, he beat all three cars from his former team at Spire.
Behind LaJoie in 15th was Harrison Burton, who turned in one of his best performances of the season. Burton drove into the top 10 on speed at one point, even passing eventual race winner Joey Logano on his way up.
Ultimately, Burton went on to score his first top 15 since his breakthrough win at Daytona International Speedway.
The trio of Spire Motorsports swapped hands on who the organization’s top driver would be, but Zane Smith came out on top in the end. Like many of the underdogs, Smith struggled out of the gates, running just inside the top 30 in the opening stage. By stage two, however, he had cut it nearly in half, catapulting to 15th.
While Smith didn’t flash a ton of raw speed like some of his other dark horse colleagues, he consistently ran around 15th in the final stage, closing it out as the top rookie of the race. It was also his fifth top 20 in the past six races.
Smith’s 2025 plans still have not been disclosed, if even finalized. You’d have to imagine something is in the works, but whoever lands his driving services is getting a rookie who has grown tremendously over the course of the year.
While Smith was the top dog from the Spire camp, Justin Haley may have been the most impressive underdog overall. Haley was fast off the bat, running just outside the 15 early on before finishing stage two in seventh. In the final stage, he flirted with the top five before settling into seventh for several laps.
Unfortunately, a tire issue late in the race hampered Haley’s surge, leaving him 17th. Still, the Winamac, Ind. native has flashed much potential in his four races with Spire, and eventually, the finishes he deserves will come to fruition.
Coming off the high of AJ Allmendinger‘s Championship 4-clinching berth with a win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race the day prior, Kaulig Racing was delivered another top 20 by Daniel Hemric. It was a positive note compared to early in the race when Hemric got into Austin Dillon on lap 64, igniting a violent crash.
It isn’t stated enough that incidents like that can offset a driver’s focus, but Hemric honed in even more, running inside the top 20 much of the day and getting as high as 11th. With race sponsor and longtime supporter South Point on board, Hemric displayed his trademark consistency again, earning his fourth top 20 in the last seven races. He too has yet to announce his 2025 plans, but despite the knock against him concerning his wins record, Hemric deserves a call for a ride.
What They’re Saying
Nemechek (ninth): “Solid day. We didn’t start off great — started in 26th, I think we fell back to the 30s and Brian (Campe, crew chief) and the engineers — everyone on this 42 Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota team worked really hard to get the car right. I felt like our communication was good today.
I just felt like everything went okay. We got track position, made some adjustments, woke the car up. I felt like we were running top-15 there for a little bit, and we opted to save fuel on the strategy that we played and came home ninth. Obviously, we want more — but at the same time, very, very solid day for this 42 group, and something I feel like us and Legacy Motor Club needed.”
Hemric (19th):
Who’s Really the Top Dog?
This week’s podium looks much different than average, with some drivers with few medals grabbing some accolades. Despite only having four top 10s, three of those have netted Nemechek the gold medal. LaJoie joins a tight, four-way tie for the second-most silvers with three. Burton grabs his second bronze of the season and fourth medal overall.
Gold: Carson Hocevar (6x), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (5x), Jones (4x), Smith (4x), Nemechek (3x), Allmendinger (2x), Todd Gilliland (2x), LaJoie (2x), Hemric (2x), Haley, Joey Hand, Burton
Silver: Gilliland (8x), Haley (3x), Hocevar (3x), Stenhouse (3x), LaJoie (3x), Allmendinger (2x), Hemric (2x), Nemechek (2x), Smith (2x), Burton, Ty Dillon, Anthony Alfredo, Cody Ware, Jones
Bronze: Stenhouse (5x), LaJoie (4x), Gilliland (4x), Nemechek (3x), Hocevar (3x), Hemric (3x), Jones (2x), Haley (2x), Burton (2x), Kaz Grala, Shane van Gisbergen, Allmendinger, Smith, Parker Retzlaff
Small Team Scheme of the Week
Turn the heat up!
Shane van Gisbergen made his Las Vegas debut, sporting the flames for Wendy’s Spicy Chicken.
From Jeff Gordon‘s Nicorette car to Matt Kenseth‘s USG car, flames have made several appearances in Vegas. Van Gisbergen carried that on with a nice touch to the look, carrying a pair of dice on the side. He finished the race in 29th.
Luken Glover joined the Frontstretch team in 2020 as a contributor, furthering a love for racing that traces back to his earliest memories. Glover inherited his passion for racing from his grandfather, who used to help former NASCAR team owner Junie Donlavey in his Richmond, Va. garage. A 2023 graduate from the University of the Cumberlands, Glover is the author of "The Underdog House," contributes to commentary pieces, and does occasional at-track reporting. Additionally, Glover enjoys working in ministry, coaching basketball, playing sports, and karting.