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Bob PockrassNASCAR
Spencer Gallagher announced Friday that he would pretty much end his racing career after the 2018 season. He might run an occasional truck, but beyond that, he’s turning in his steering wheel.
The next day, John Hunter Nemechek in some ways announced that he should be the top candidate to replace Gallagher at GMS Racing.
The 21-year-old Nemechek wouldn’t say if he is interested in the ride, but by winning Saturday at Kansas Speedway in his 15th career start, he updated his resume quickly.
Whether Nemechek lands the ride remains to be determined, but the move Gallagher made off the track and the ones Nemechek made on the track shows just how much right place, right time could matter.
Gallagher, the son of GMS Racing team owner Maury Gallagher, said he decided he would take a managerial role with the team. Gallagher won an Xfinity race at Talladega earlier this year — he was seventh in points at the time — but was suspended four days later for failing a NASCAR drug test administered prior to the Talladega weekend.
The 28-year-old Gallagher, who has an average finish of 20.5 in Xfinity races in his career, said the suspension didn’t have anything to do with his decision.
What made Gallagher’s decision a little bit of a surprise, though, was that he seemed penciled in to drive a Cup car for GMS Racing if the organization decided to move into the NASCAR Cup series. It is not making the move.
Gallagher’s primary sponsor has been one of his father’s companies (Allegiant). Another one of his father’s companies (ISM Connect) can often be seen on the team’s vehicles in Xfinity and trucks.
“GMS started out surrounded around Spencer Gallagher,” Spencer Gallagher said. “But since then, it’s grown to be something so much more and something so much bigger.
“It’s time to take the next step and really see what this can do. To do that, my greatest detail to GMS lies elsewhere than the driver’s seat. There’s a lot of talented guys out there.”
Nemechek has some sponsors he has worked with throughout the years (such as Fire Alarm Systems) but learned that not having sponsors can often lead to no ride. He knew he had a partial schedule this season in Xfinity with Chip Ganassi Racing. That schedule didn’t increase despite respectable performances as sponsor DC Solar opted to back Ross Chastain, who won a race in his three starts in the No. 42 car.
That led to increased social media speculation that Chastain could (or should) replace Nemechek, even though Chastain has much more experience in the series as well as having driven in Cup this year, albeit primarily in underfunded cars.
“I pretty much got off social media when Ross started getting in the car when all that started coming in,” Nemechek said. “I didn’t want it to affect myself. Everyone has their own opinion. If I say you suck at your job, you would take that to heart and be like, ‘Damn, that really hurts.’
“Ross did great. But I got off social media. I focused on what I needed to focus on and that was to come here and win races.”
Nemechek doesn’t know what he’s doing in 2019 but winning a race certainly doesn’t hurt. The Chip Ganassi Racing team is still in the owners championship hunt in the Xfinity Series and Nemechek will be in the car for the final three races. With the Kansas win, the team is guaranteed a shot at the owners title at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“We’re going to take every day as it comes,” Nemechek said. “We’re going to keep trying to do the best that we can and I’m going to keep focusing on my one task, and that’s to go out and try to win this owner’s championship. … Who knows what is going to happen in 2019.”
Gallagher wouldn’t say how many truck and Xfinity teams it would have next season. His role is still to be determined, but Mike Beam will remain running the day-to-day operations.
“From Day 1 there, I’ve always considered my title to be whatever you would associate with the lowest man on the totem pole,” Gallagher said. “My position at GMS is one of servant. My existence is there to bring others success.”
Could he help bring John Hunter Nemechek success? GMS Racing won a truck title with Johnny Sauter two years ago and Sauter and Justin Haley are both vying for the truck title this year.
“We’re interviewing several capable candidates right now,” Gallagher said Friday. “As of right now, the seat is open season. We have excellent stuff. We’re taking auditions.”