Joe Nemechek
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| Born: | September 26, 1963 | |
| Birthplace: | Lakeland, Florida | |
| Awards: | 1987 Lakeland Interstate Speedway Rookie of the Year
1988 United Speed Alliance Racing Rookie of the Year 1989 All-Pro Late Model Series Champion & Rookie of the Year 1992 Busch Series Champion |
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| NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Statistics | ||
| Car #, Team | 13 Ginn Racing | |
| 2006 NEXTEL Cup Position: | 27th | |
| Best Cup Position: | 15th - 2000 (Winston Cup) | |
| First Race: | 1993 Slick 50 300 (Loudon) | |
| First Win: | 1999 Dura Lube/Kmart 300 (Loudon) | |
| Last Win: | 2004 Banquet 400 Presented by ConAgra Foods (Kansas) | |
| Wins | Top Tens | Poles |
| 4 | 58 | 9 |
| All stats current as of October 29, 2006. | ||
Joseph Frank Nemechek III (born September 26, 1963) in Lakeland, Florida is a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series driver and owner of NEMCO Motorsports. He won the 1992 Busch Series championship. He currently drives the #13 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Ginn Racing. The older brother of the late John Nemechek (whose death inspired him to name his firstborn son after his brother), he is nicknamed "Front Row Joe" for his tendency to qualified near the front of the field, a term deemed by former teammate Wally Dallenbach. He has sixteen total Busch Series wins.
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[edit] Early career
Nemechek began racing at the age of thirteen in motocross, and won six hundred career races over the next six years. After winning various awards in different short track series around the country, Nemechek made his Busch Series debut at North Carolina Speedway in 1989, where he started 40th and finishing 33rd after suffering engine failure in his #88 Buick.
[edit] Busch Series
Nemechek moved up to the Busch Series in 1990, running the #87 with sponsorship from Master Machine & Tool, posting two top-fives and finishing seventeenth in points, winning Rookie of the Year honors. He had sixteen top-ten finishes and finished sixth in points the following year. In 1992, Nemechek got full-time sponsorship from Texas Pete Sauces, and won his first two career wins and defeated Bobby Labonte for the championship by three points. He did not win again in 1993, but he won three poles and finished fifth in points. That season, he made his Cup debut at New Hampshire International Speedway for his NEMCO team, starting 15th before finishing 36th after suffering rocker arm failure. After running two more races in the 87, he ran a pair of races for Morgan-McClure Motorsports, his best finish 23rd at Rockingham.
[edit] 1994-1999
In 1994, Nemechek joined Larry Hedrick Motorsports to drive the #41 Meineke Car Care Center Chevy. Despite missing two races, he had three top-tens and finished 27th. He also one Busch Series race at Richmond International Raceway. The next season, he moved his 87 team up to the Cup series with sponsorship from Burger King, and posted a fourth-place finish at the MBNA 500 and finished 28th in points. After he dropped to 34th in points, he abandoned his Cup team and signed to drive the #42 Bellsouth car for SABCO Racing. After losing his brother John in an accident at Homestead-Miami Speedway early in the year, Nemechek won the first two pole positions of his career, at California Speedway and Pocono Raceway, respectively. He posted four top-tens and finished a career-best 26th the following year. Midway through 1999, he announced he would return to the 42 team the following season when he picked up his first career victory at Loudon. He won two more poles at Martinsville and Talladega Superspeedway and finished 30th in points that year.
[edit] 2000-2003
For 2000, Nemechek signed to drive the #33 Oakwood Homes Chevrolet for Andy Petree Racing, winning the pole at Talladega and finishing a career-best fifteenth in points. He missed five races the following year after suffering an elbow injury at a test at Dover in 2001, then went on to win the Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 at North Carolina Speedway that November.
After Petree's team began to run into financial problems, Nemechek left for the 26 Ford Taurus fielded by Haas-Carter Motorsports. But after sponsor Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Nemechek left the team.
After replacing Johnny Benson (who was injured in an accident at Richmond) for a few races, Nemechek was signed by Hendrick Motorsports to drive the #25 UAW-Delphi Chevrolet (replacing Jerry Nadeau). He had a solid finish to his 2002 season, finishing second twice in the season's final four races.
In 2003, he won at the Pontiac Excitement 400 as well as posting five other top-ten finishes, but finished 25th in points. It wasn't enough for Nemechek to keep his job at Hendrick, and at the end of the season was released from his contract.
[edit] Presently
In 2004, Nemechek signed with MB2/MBV Motorsports, taking over the #01 U.S. Army car (driven previously by Jerry Nadeau, who was severely injured in a crash the season before and has yet to return to NASCAR). He won two poles late in the season.
In October 2004, Nemechek won his latest race at Kansas Speedway, beating out Ricky Rudd at the finish line. Nemechek also won the Busch Series race at Kansas the day before, making him the first driver to pull the Busch-Cup double win at the track.
In 2005, Nemechek won a pole at Michigan and fell seven points short of matching his career-best points finish. So far in 2006, he has yet to finish in the top-ten in a race. Nemechek will drive MB2's third car, the #13 Chevy in 2007, and Mark Martin will take his place along with Busch Series driver Regan Smith. In 2007 the MB2 will be rebranded as Ginn Racing. Bobby Ginn purchased the team in 2006.
[edit] External links
- Joe Nemechek official web site
- Nemechek driver profile from Nascar.com
- Joe Nemechek Career Statistics
| Preceded by Bobby Labonte |
NASCAR Busch Series Champion 1992 |
Succeeded by Steve Grissom |
