Joe Nemechek Earns a Hard Fought Top-Ten finish at Atlanta

Joe Nemechek drove NEMCO Motorsports’ No. 8 SWM International Inc. Chevrolet Silverado to a 10th-place finish in Saturday night’s 130-lap NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) event at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway. The NEMCO Motorsports driver posted a seventh place effort in the Keystone Light Pole Qualifying as Nemechek was one of the drivers who did not post an official time in the final round of qualifying for the Hyundai Construction Equipment 200. The Lakeland, Fla., driver started seventh in the Saturday event and was scored in the ninth position by Lap 6 even as Nemechek battled a free condition. He radioed to crew chief Gere Kennon that he was “loose across the bumps and needed rear-grip.” As the first caution flag waved on Lap 12 while in ninth position, the NEMCO Motorsports team opted not to pit. Relief later came on Lap 19 when the second caution flag waved for an accident in Turn 2, allowing the SWM International Inc. Chevrolet to visit pit road to fine tune the team’s Chevrolet with a track bar and a wedge adjustment in addition to four Goodyear tires and fuel. Nemechek lined up 14th for the restart on Lap 23. The No. 8 Chevrolet again progressed to the ninth position before another yellow flag waved on Lap 51 bringing out the final caution of the day. The Kennon-led team used a pit stop under caution to make more adjustments to the Chevrolet Silverado, adding fuel and four tires. Later, by Lap 70, the No. 8 Chevrolet drove into the top eight, clocking lap times as fast as the leaders. With less than 32 laps to go, Nemechek was forced to make a trip down pit road to change four tires over concerns of a right-rear flat tire. It caused the NEMCO Motorsports team to be scored in 13th position by Lap 100. Nemechek gained three spots throughout the closing laps before ultimately finishing in 10th place. Nemechek is currently ninth in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver standings.

 

 Start – 7         Finish – 10         Laps Led – 0

 

Joe Nemechek Quote:

“I’m disappointed with a top-10, but we’ll definitely take it. I thought we were going to be a lot better than that. We had a lot of things go on during the race – we were just way too loose all night. We’ve been working hard on our Chevrolets. We’re learning more and more about these things.

 

“We’re faster, running in the top-10. I mean, there are a lot of good trucks that run in the top-15, top-18, just a lot of good trucks. So, we still have some more homework to do, but we keep getting better and better. We’re just building our notebook for John Hunter (Nemechek) here.”

 

NEMCO PR