John Hunter Nemechek leads another KBM 1–2 in CRC Brakleen 150

John Hunter Nemechek continues to set himself as the top driver in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series when he held off his boss Kyle Busch to win Saturday’s CRC Brakleen 150 at Pocono Raceway.

Nemechek started seventh behind pole-sitter Todd Gilliland. The field had barely crossed the line to start the race when Jack Wood was sent into the outside wall after contact with Chandler Smith and bounced him into Johnny Sauter. Zane Smith would lead much of the opening stage to win ahead of Busch, Sheldon Creed, Gilliland, Ben Rhodes, Stewart Friesen, Austin Hill, Christian Eckes, and Matt Crafton. Being a Cup Series driver, Busch did not receive stage points.

Smith continued to lead for Stage #2 before being passed by GMS Racing team-mate Creed. Shortly before the stage end, Creed elected to pit and surrendered the lead to Nemechek, who took the segment victory. Rhodes, Friesen, Hill, Crafton, Josh Berry, Ty Majeski, Chase Purdy, Grant Enfinger, and Kris Wright rounded out the top ten; the top five were all Toyota drivers. For Wright, it was his first career stage point, while Berry received none as he declared for the Xfinity championship.

Busch became the leader to start the final segment. Although Creed gave chase, a caution for Friesen’s wreck on lap 52 led to a restart in which Nemechek won out. Busch and Creed battled for second, which resulted in contact that allowed Nemechek to pull away. While Busch held Creed off to take second, he could not catch his employee as Nemechek scored his fifth win of the year and first at Pocono.

“We weren’t very good in Stage #1,” said Nemechek. “We kept working on it. […]

“We’ve got fast trucks every single week. We struggled at Nashville last week. It was probably one of our worst races and we finished 10th. We just have to continue pushing, continue working. We can’t take these wins for granted. They are hard to get, so hopefully we can get a few more before the year is done, win the regular season championship and have a shot at Phoenix.”

Busch, running his fifth and final allowed Truck race of the year, finished second to complete Kyle Busch Motorsports‘ third 1–2 finish after Las Vegas in March and Richmond in April; both races saw Nemechek beat Busch. KBM has eight wins in thirteen races in 2021.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	7	4	John Hunter Nemechek	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	60	Running
2	22	51	Kyle Busch*	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	60	Running
3	10	2	Sheldon Creed	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	60	Running
4	18	26	Tyler Ankrum	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	60	Running
5	4	16	Austin Hill	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	60	Running
6	5	88	Matt Crafton	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	60	Running
7	1	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	60	Running
8	2	21	Zane Smith	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	60	Running
9	8	17	Ryan Preece*	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	60	Running
10	24	19	Derek Kraus	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Toyota	60	Running
11	20	25	Josh Berry*	Rackley WAR	Chevrolet	60	Running
12	16	98	Christian Eckes	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	60	Running
13	13	42	Carson Hocevar	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	60	Running
14	14	66	Ty Majeski	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	60	Running
15	15	23	Chase Purdy	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	60	Running
16	17	15	Tanner Gray	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	60	Running
17	3	99	Ben Rhodes	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	60	Running
18	23	40	Ryan Truex	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	60	Running
19	21	22	Austin Wayne Self	AM Racing	Chevrolet	60	Running
20	29	34	Lawless Alan	Reaume Brothers Racing	Toyota	60	Running
21	25	12	Tate Fogleman	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	60	Running
22	33	3	Howie DiSavino III	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	60	Running
23	38	49	Ray Ciccarelli	CMI Motorsports	Toyota	60	Running
24	30	56	Tyler Hill	Hill Motorsports	Chevrolet	60	Running
25	11	18	Chandler Smith	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	59	Running
26	19	1	Hailie Deegan	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	59	Running
27	34	20	Spencer Boyd	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	59	Running
28	35	33	Josh Reaume	Reaume Brothers Racing	Chevrolet	59	Running
29	32	41	Todd Peck	Cram Racing Enterprises	Chevrolet	59	Running
30	26	02	Kris Wright #	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	59	Running
31	36	10	Jennifer Jo Cobb	Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing	Ford	58	Running
32	37	6	Norm Benning	Norm Benning Racing	Chevrolet	58	Running
33	6	52	Stewart Friesen	Halmar Friesen Racing	Toyota	58	Running
34	39	28	Bryan Dauzat	FDNY Racing	Chevrolet	57	Running
35	12	13	Johnny Sauter	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	55	Running
36	31	9	Grant Enfinger	CR7 Motorsports	Chevrolet	52	Engine
37	27	45	Bayley Currey	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	38	Engine
38	28	30	Danny Bohn	On Point Motorsports	Toyota	17	Transmission
39	9	24	Jack Wood	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	0	Accident

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Truck points