John Hunter Nemechek speaks out after shocking tire incident on Bristol’s pit road

Legacy Motor Club driver John Hunter Nemechek had a tough run at the Food City 500 held at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, April 13. Nemechek had a bit of a situation after the qualifying session and during a pit stop. During a post-race interview, he reflected on his run at the 0.533-mile track.

The #42 Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE driver qualified 32nd for the 500-lap race with a best time of 15.30 seconds and a top speed of 125.38 mph. However, after the session, one of the parts of Nemechek's ride broke, and he had to start the race from the back of the pack. Additionally, the track was tough on tires, and the early part was about saving the tires while moving up the pack.

Further, at a pit stop at Bristol Motor Speedway, John Hunter Nemechek's tire got loose and rolled down to the Trackhouse Racing driver Daniel Suarez's pit stop, nearly injuring Suarez's crew member. This led to chaos on the pit road, and the governing body penalized the #42 Toyota driver for the same.

Reflecting on the situation, the #42 Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE driver said (via Speedway Digest):

"It was a decent finish considering the kind of day we had - an up-and-down one. We went a lap down in the first stage and had to take the wave-around. Then we had a tire fall off on pit road, which set us back even more. But the team kept fighting, and we managed to stay just one lap down to the end during that green-flag pit cycle."

"We had a solid strategy to try and get back on the lead lap. I felt like our Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE had good speed—probably a top-15 car if we hadn't made a few mistakes throughout the day. Still, it was a solid effort and encouraging speed. We'll take the off week to reset and get ready for Talladega in a couple of weeks," he added.

Despite starting from far behind, John Hunter Nemechek fought well and held off the race winner, Kyle Larson, for a while. But with 46 laps to go in stage one, Larson took the lead and lapped him.

The Legacy Motor Club driver finished the race in P21, earning 16 points. Meanwhile, the Hendrick Motorsports driver dominated the 500-lap race, leading 411 laps and earning 60 points.

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John Hunter Nemechek's long-time sponsor partnered with the team for the 2025 season

Earlier this year, in January, John Hunter Nemechek's team, Legacy Motor Club, announced the return of Pye-Barker Fire & Safety as the primary sponsor for the #42 Toyota Camry XSE for this season.

The fire protection company has backed up Nemechek's ride since 2021 and will sponsor the Legacy Motor Club driver's ride for 14 races in the 2025 season. The first sponsored race was held at Circuit of the Americas (COTA), where he qualified in P33 and finished the event 11 spots above, in P22.

John Hunter Nemechek ranks 21st on the Cup Series driver's points table with 171 points. He has secured one top-five finish at the Daytona 500 and two top-10 finishes in nine starts this season. He has an average start of 24.556 and an average finish of 18.889.