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NASCAR WCUP: Jerry Nadeau/Melling Racing Pocono Preview

17 June 1999

Jerry Nadeau/Melling Racing
Race Performance Profile
Pocono 500 -- Pocono (Pa.) Raceway
June 20, 1999
Track Specs: 
Track Length: 2.5 miles
Banking: 14 degrees in turn one
Eight degrees in turn two
Six degrees in turn three
Race Length: 200 laps / 500 miles

1999 Stats and Facts:

Nadeau posted the best finish of his NASCAR Winston Cup career -- eighth -- in the DieHard 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway April 25. Nadeau's best qualifying effort this year was April 15 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, where he posted the fourth-fastest speed. This will be the final appearance of Cartoon Network's "Dexter" paint scheme on the No. 9 Melling Racing Ford for the 1999 season. The company will unveil a new paint scheme next week at Sears Point (Sonoma, Calif.) Raceway.

1998 Stats and Facts:

Nadeau started 30th and finished 21st in the June race at Pocono Raceway. Nadeau's season-high finish was 15th at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International.

Nadeau's best qualifying position was at Sears Point Raceway, where he started second.

Nadeau's Thoughts on Pocono Raceway:

"All of the drivers talk about how unique Pocono is. The track has three totally different turns. It's really hard to set up a car to be good in all three.

"Turn one is very fast and a little banked. Turn two is just a very fast kink on the backstretch, but it can screw you up going into turn three if you aren't fast. Turn three is a very flat turn, a lot like a short track. If you're not going fast, it will really hurt you going into the front straight, which is almost a mile long.

"It's a very unusual track, but it's also a very fun track. We're taking the same car we used at Lowe's Motor Speedway (at Charlotte) which was a good car for us. It should be able to adapt to the different turns pretty well."

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