Joe Gibbs Racing Surprises John Hunter Nemechek With NASCAR Xfinity Drive for His Birthday

Published 06/13/2021, 7:19 AM EDT

Earlier, John Hunter Nemechek celebrated his 24th birthday. In light of that, the Joe Gibbs Racing team handed him the perfect birthday gift. To be precise, the Truck driver will drive the #54 Toyota in three NASCAR Xfinity Series races this season. As per reports, the 24-year-old will make his JGR debut on September 17th at the Bristol Motor Speedway. Later on, he will make appearances at the Texas Motor Speedway and at the Phoenix Raceway.

During his NASCAR tenure, Nemechek made more than 200 starts across all three national series. So far, the youngster is leading the Truck Series points standings. Backing that championship lead is three victories for Kyle Busch Motorsports. He also boasts of an Xfinity Series win at Kansas Speedway in 2018. However, this will be his first time in the Joe Gibbs machine.

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“I am very excited about this opportunity,” Nemechek said. “Just like I’ve said all year on the Trucks side, I’m here to win races. I have a lot of confidence going into these races that we’re going to have a shot to win every time out. Chris (Gayle, crew chief) and everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing has shown that they are capable of winning any given week and I expect to do the same.”

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John Hunter Nemechek has familiar faces in the team

The North Carolina will join the likes of Kyle Busch, Ty Dillon, Ty Gibbs, and Martin Truex Jr. All of the aforementioned drivers have had a go in the #54 car. Some of them even earned victories for the Joe Gibbs Racing Xfinity team. On an interesting note, Cup Series points leader Denny Hamlin will also drive the No. 54 Supra at Darlington Raceway in September.

For the moment, Nemechek is concentrating on this weekend’s Truck Series race at the Texas Motor Speedway. In addition to that, the track is also hosting the Xfinity race and the Cup Series’ All-Star Open and All-Star Race.

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.