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 "This was one of the first cars we cut up to get better aerodynamics on it, and the thing drives good." |
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Joe Nemechek
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By Steve Almasy, CNNSI.com
HAMPTON, Ga. -– Joe Nemechek has a reputation for qualifying well. "Front Row" Joe, they call him. It’s Sunday where he often has the problem.
On Friday, qualifying for the NAPA 500 was called off. Rain. Standing 36th in the standings, Nemechek started from the near the rear of the pack on Sunday. He still thought he had a chance to run well, but this well?
Nemechek moved up 33 spots in just 20 laps. He pitted on lap 6, after John Andretti spun to avoid Jeremy and hit the inside wall of the backstretch.
“My car was really, really good on new tires,” he said. “It was awesome on new tires.”
Because the leaders stayed out on the first stop, Nemechek was able to use his tire advantage to slice through the field. While most of the crowd watched pole sitter Tony Stewart race out to a huge lead, the 25 car made its way through traffic. At the next caution, Nemechek only had to take gas and came out third.
Nemechek -– who had finished in worse position than he qualified 16 of 29 times this season -– took the lead on lap 35 when Kyle Petty pitted and Stewart needed to take care of loose lug nuts. It was a glorious afternoon for Nemechek, a 39-year-old Floridian. He led 57 laps, including the stretch from 148-187.
“I had that thing sideways chasing Nemechek down,” Stewart, the points leader, said.
But race winner Kurt Busch dominated the final laps, and the race ended while a soft rain soaked the track. Nemechek thought one of the keys to Busch’s victory was pit road strategy. The Ford driver said that short-pitting (pitting earlier than normal) did help but he was better on the long runs.
“I knew I wasn’t coming off the white line [at the bottom of the track] because I knew he was fast down there, “ Busch said of the runner-up. “Once the tires wore a way a little bit, we were a bit quicker. I knew we would wear him out eventually. So where he might have us 10 laps into the run, I think we would have gotten him back by 40 laps.”
The success of this car was surprising. It wasn’t the same 25 car that Jerry Nadeau was leading with when he ran out of gas in late in last year’s event. It was a car that did poorly at Darlington and was refabricated to improve the aerodynamics.
“We hit on a good balance point [too],” Nemechek said.
The “new” car gave Nemechek his only top 10 of the season, a fourth on Sept. 29 at Kansas. But in his next three races he had finished 39th, 40th and 41st, not the kind of performances needed by a driver whose job security is the subject of the Silly Season rumor mill.
“I think it’s to the point where Hendrick Motorsports is going to make some decisions,” he said. “I can’t speak on their behalf.
“I look forward to staying there if they want to have me there.”
