While some of his peers weren’t necessarily thrilled with how the inaugural NASCAR In-Season Challenge played out, especially considering they missed out on the $1 million prize that Challenge winner Ty Gibbs took home, John Hunter Nemechek wants to see it return next year.
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But there’s just one change that Nemechek would like to see. More on that in a minute. The son of former Cup driver Joe Nemechek, John Hunter reached the semifinals of the five-round Challenge, losing to Ty Dillon, who reached the final round but lost to Ty Gibbs.
The younger Nemechek talked about the challenge during Saturday’s media availability at Iowa Speedway. When asked his initial thoughts about the Challenge, Nemechek had a surprising reply.
“I’m mad I didn’t win it,” he said with a laugh. “I think overall it was a really great experience, to be honest with you. Props to TNT and NASCAR, and everyone that came up with the idea and made it possible. It was really fun to be a part of.”
Several drivers and their fans quickly lost interest in the Challenge when their favorite drivers were eliminated in the opening round, including No. 1 seed Denny Hamlin (defeated by Dillon), as well as No. 2 seed Chase Briscoe, along with Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson and Austin Cindric.
But the Challenge became a great storyline of the underdogs in NASCAR Cup racing, particularly guys like Dillon and Nemechek. “It was great from a fan perspective,” Nemechek said. “When you didn’t have a chance to win the race, obviously you want to get the best finish that you can, right?
“But at Dover, Ty Dillon and I, we didn’t have the best cars all day and we kept trading it off and we knew that we were racing them. It gives you something to race for when you are running 20th that day, or 15th that day or whatever it may be.”
The Challenge Produced a Lot of Trash Talking
One of the best things that came about in the Challenge was the banter on social media between drivers, which was almost as exciting and hilarious as how each round turned out.
“The trash talking on social media and the content capture, that was a lot of fun for me,” Nemechek said. “I think you saw a lot of different personalities come out through that, a lot of engagement that you normally wouldn’t see on a weekly basis, unless you were racing for something like that.
“I know we definitely gained some fans, Ty Dillon gained some fans for making it all the way through to the final round… Thank you to everyone for making it happen. I think it’s definitely a step in the right direction for our sport.”
He also said, “I think it should be a thing, kind of like March Madness is. The bracket challenge is really neat and I think it’s awesome that fans get to fill out brackets… It’s definitely a lot of fun to be a part of and I’m really hoping that they bring it back.”
But the one thing Nemechek would like to see changed is simple and understandable. “I think it would be neat to have different racetracks every year, kind of like the championship race,” Nemechek said.
“One of my thoughts on that is to change venues every year, to keep going back to different places and ultimately just having a really good time.”
