NASCAR WCUP: Jerry Nadeau/Melling Racing Daytona Preview
30 June 1999
Jerry Nadeau/Melling RacingRace Performance Profile
Pepsi 400 -- Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway
July 3, 1999
Car: No. 9 Melling Racing Ford
Car Owner: Mark Melling
Sponsor: World Championship Wrestling
1999 Stats and Facts:
Nadeau scored 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 last week at Sears Point (Sonoma, Calif.) Raceway, where he recorded the third-fastest speed. The No. 9 Melling Racing Ford will sport a new paint scheme from World Championship Wrestling for the Pepsi 400, which features wrestler Bill Goldberg.
1998 Stats and Facts:
Nadeau finished 19th in the 1998 Pepsi 400 after starting 33rd.
Nadeau posted his career-best qualifying position last year at Sears
Point
Raceway, starting second in the Save Mart/Kragen 350.
Nadeau's season-high finish was 15th at Watkins Glen (N.Y.)
International.
Nadeau's Thoughts on Daytona International Speedway:
"Our team really has to adjust its mindset when we head back to Daytona for the Pepsi 400. It's unusual. The race is nothing like the Daytona 500 or the races at Talladega, the other restrictor-plate track. Cars tend to slip and slide more in this race because of the hot Florida weather, so handling plays a more important role in setting up the cars.
"The track changes a lot during this race. In the first half, most of the drivers will run flat-out just to see what their cars are going to do. In the second half, the track gets really slick. You can tell the good cars from the rest of the field because they can stick to the bottom of the track while the others tend to float up to the top. But we won't be able to drive flat-out during the whole race like at the other restrictor-plate races. Drivers may have to lift in the corners just to keep their cars under control.
"We're taking the same car we used in the Daytona 500 and the DieHard 500. It's been pretty good to us. We've had an 11th-place finish (Daytona 500) and an eighth-place finish (DieHard 500 at Talladega) in that car so far this year. The only difference is that it has an awesome new paint scheme for the night race at Daytona."
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