Top Dog: John Hunter Nemechek
Let’s cut to the chase: several drivers can make a case for ‘most improved’ in the NASCAR Cup Series this season.
Chase Briscoe went from fighting for relevance with a disbanding Stewart-Haas Racing team to perhaps a championship favorite. Ryan Preece has gone from fighting for top 25s to seeing the front of the field much more often this year. Even Bubba Wallace can make a case by returning to the playoffs and earning an illustrious crown jewel victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
But I’m going to go out on a limb and make the call now, even with eight races remaining in the season.
John Hunter Nemechek is the most improved driver in the Cup Series.
No, he didn’t make the playoffs, but Nemechek and the No. 42 team have taken leaps and bounds not just statistically, but also performance-wise from last year, proving Legacy Motor Club’s rejuvenation is more than a flash in the pan.
That surge was on display once again at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway on Sunday (Sept. 7), where Nemechek finished sixth after finishing fourth in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway a week ago.
Nemechek had a brush with the wall after avoiding a Josh Berry crash in stage one, but stayed neutral from his starting position of 20th by staying there at the end of stage one.
A caution on lap 78 brought several drivers to pit road while Nemechek stayed out, vaulting him into the top 10. From there, he managed the advantage of track position to finish the second stage in ninth.
The strategy play was all Nemechek needed in a race of constant shuffling, as he kept his Toyota inside the top 10 nearly all of the remainder of the race. A final caution during green flag pit stops waved with roughly 30 laps remaining after Nemechek had already pitted, allowing him to stay out and cycle back into the top 10. The 28-year-old didn’t cough up what was in his hands, driving up to sixth to secure his second consecutive top 10.
With eight top 10s on the season now, Nemechek has surpassed his career top 10 total entering 2025, where he had accumulated seven. His average finish has improved by nearly seven positions, he’s on pace to double his lead-lap finishes and his points standing currently stands as a 13-spot gain from last year (34th to 21st).
Even with all of the statistical boosts, some of the results this year haven’t reflected Nemechek’s speed, and as Legacy Motor Club improves in execution, Nemechek continues to become a real threat to make the playoffs next season.
Notable Underdog Runs
Speaking of statistics, Michael McDowell‘s numbers may appear to be down this season, but outside of top 10s, he’s been relatively on par with the past couple of seasons.
A 14th-place finish at Gateway continued what has been a rather subdued season for the 40-year-old. McDowell steadily worked his way forward from a 28th-place starting spot, reaching the top 20 by stage two before a speeding penalty stranded him outside the top 30.
McDowell stretched out his fuel run late in the race while others made their final pit stops, meaning the lap 208 caution worked out perfectly for him while running second. After the field reset, McDowell took the final restart from 15th, improving one position to earn his fourth top 20 in the past five races.
Despite only having three top 10s on the year, McDowell’s 19.5 average finish is on pace to be the third-best of his career, and it’s just north of his mark of exactly 19th in 2023, a year where he made the playoffs.
Rounding out the top 15 was McDowell’s Spire Motorsports teammate, Carson Hocevar.
Hocevar was quick out of the gates, jumping 11 positions from 27th to 16th by the end of stage one. In stage two, Hocevar had to navigate through a couple of incidents, ending up being on the short end of a couple of aggressive moves rather than being the aggressor, finishing the stage in 22nd.
At one point during the final stage, extra fuel in the Portage, Mich. native’s tank put him second on his strategy, and had the race run to the finish, it could have been a much different result. Instead, the yellow waved for Ty Dillon with 30 to go, and Hocevar had to restart in the midst of the hornets nest, holding on for a top 15. It’s the reigning Rookie of the Year’s fifth top 15 in the past seven races.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the final underdog to crack the top 20 with a 20th-place run, a much-needed result in what has been an extremely rough summer for the Hyak Motorsports driver.
After being mired outside the top 20 for much of the race, the final caution played into Stenhouse’s hands, allowing him to restart on fresh tires and drive into the top 20. It is Stenhouse’s first top 20 since a sixth-place showing at EchoPark Speedway in June.
The rough stretch combined with other drivers’ pending 2026 contracts has pinged Stenhouse into silly season conversations, but the 37-year-old confirmed this past week that he would return with Hyak next season.
Underdog Power Rankings
1. Nemechek (+3): As momentous as Nemechek’s season has been, he will look to do something he hasn’t done this season when he goes to Bristol Motor Speedway: earn three consecutive top 10s. Ironically, all eight of Nemechek’s top 10s this season have come in Noah’s Ark style of two-by-two, and Bristol could be the perfect opportunity to make it three in a row. Nemechek has a pair of top 10s in Thunder Valley, including a sixth-place run last spring.
2. Hocevar (+1): Every now and then, a driver needs a quiet race, and an overall solid day should bolster Hocevar’s hopes heading into Bristol. Had it not been for a pit issue back in the spring, there was a legitimate chance we would be talking about Hocevar as a playoff driver by virtue of a Bristol win.
3. Erik Jones (-2): Jones was unable to replicate the success his Legacy teammate Nemechek experienced off the heels of consecutive breakouts, but he also didn’t have a disastrous race. Jones’s Bristol history is a bit of an enigma. He had four top fives in his first nine starts between Joe Gibbs Racing and LMC, but he has not seen the top 20 in the last five.
4. AJ Allmendinger (-2): This has kind of felt like the story of Allmendinger’s season — put up one of the strongest runs of the year (fifth at Darlington a week ago), then follow it up with a lack of pace. Bristol could be a bounce-back spot, where Allmendinger has a pair of top 10s in the Next Gen car, including a result of ninth back in April.
5. McDowell (NR): Little has been mentioned about McDowell lately, but he returns to the rankings with a much-needed top 15 at Gateway. After struggling at Bristol for several years, the veteran has finished 11th or better in five of the last seven races in Thunder Valley.
Honorable Mentions: Stenhouse Jr., Shane van Gisbergen
Small Team Scheme of the Week
Perhaps my love for ice cream strikes again, but this scheme for Cole Custer is hard to beat any time it hits the track.
For lack of better terms, Haas Factory Team made a swirl this week by announcing it would be switching to Chevrolet next season. It’s a little bittersweet, as this scheme matches the Ford body perfectly, but here’s to hoping we see another Andy’s Frozen Custard beauty on a Chevrolet next year.
Entering his fifth year with Frontstretch, Luken Glover is the author of The Underdog House, shedding light on the motivation and performance of NASCAR's dark horse teams as they strive to fight to the top. Additionally, Glover reports for the site at various events, and he contributes in the video editing department.
A 2023 graduate of the University of the Cumberlands, Glover is a middle school math and PE teacher, as well as a basketball coach. He is passionate about serving in his church, playing/coaching a wide variety of sports, and researching motorsports history.