Following a seven-win season in the 2023 Xfinity Series, John Hunter Nemechek is back in the NASCAR Cup Series® with Team Toyota.

The 27-year-old, who drives the No. 42 Camry XSE for LEGACY MOTOR CLUB®, is in his second full-time NASCAR® Cup Series® season. The North Carolina native also races a limited schedule in the Xfinity Series behind the wheel of the No. 20 Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Now in his sixth year with Toyota, Nemechek is off to a solid start, hitting the Vegas jackpot in March’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race. Nemechek led 99 laps at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on the way to his tenth career victory in the NASCAR Xfinity ranks; it was Toyota’s first series victory of the 2024 season.

“I’ve got to give a big shoutout to all of these guys on this No. 20 team from Joe Gibbs Racing,” he said after the win. “It’s awesome to come out here and win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with our limited starts. Our goal is to win as many as we can. Nothing else matters. It feels so good to win here in Las Vegas.”

A Season of Wins
Last February, Nemechek took home his first win of the 2023 Xfinity Series season at the Auto Club Speedway. After a rain delay at the California track, Nemechek led 49 of the 150 laps, taking the lead after the race restarted through the finish.

“My guys gave me one hell of a race car,” Nemechek said. “I can’t thank everyone enough. All of our partners: Toyota, TRD, Coach (Joe) Gibbs for the opportunity —everyone that was involved to pull this whole deal together.”

Later that season, Nemechek claimed his second victory of 2023 at the Martinsville Speedway. The Team Toyota driver started second and took over the lead on lap 5, then proceeded to lead 198 of the 250 total laps. The win in Virginia was the fourth of his NASCAR Xfinity Series career.

“It was amazing. This car wasn’t very good in practice yesterday, and I thought we were like a tenth- to twelfth-place car,” Nemechek said at the time. “I’ll tell you what — everyone went to work on this No. 20 team for qualifying in this race today. So huge shoutout to the guys on this No. 20 team.”

One Major Milestone
Though Nemechek had a robust seven-win season in the Xfinity Series last year, one victory stood out. In September, he dominated at Kansas Speedway, winning both stages and leading 154 of 200 laps. He took the lead for the first time on lap 41, then took over for good on lap 96 — and led the final 104 laps, winning by over 7.5 seconds. The win was not only his sixth of the 2023 season, but also the 200th in Toyota’s NASCAR® Xfinity Series history.

“Our being able to get 200 wins for Toyota on the Xfinity side is something special,” Nemechek said.