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NASCAR WCUP: Joe Nemechek Survives 'Thunder Valley' Intact

27 August 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Bristol, TN--You know the racing is rough when each team's main goal is to finish a race with both fenders intact. Joe Nemechek and the Oakwood Homes team managed to come through the yearly night brawl at Bristol Motor Speedway with the car looking little worse than when it pulled off the starting grid.

Managing to avoid the numerous wrecks that inevitably occur at Bristol, Nemechek fought his way to a 27th place finish after starting 34th. Spotter Randy Howe had to warn Nemechek to be patient several times as the Oakwood Chevy's performance improved after each pit stop.

"We've still got both fenders on it," said Howe toward the race's end, "and I don't know if it needs a paint job or not, but I think if we can get out of here with a top 25 finish we can say we did a good job."

The Oakwood Homes team almost managed to make the top 25, and Nemechek managed to gain many positions throughout the race despite all the factors working against him. The team's biggest disadvantage was pitting on the backstretch, and Nemechek says that being in that position almost always makes his job and that of the crew twice as difficult. "It's definitely a fight. You're trying to get everything you can get. We started in the back, so we had to pit a couple of extra times to try to get an advantage-to get out of sequence. It was working there for a while, then a couple of the sets of tires we had would end up just not handling really good. We got really, really loose and ended up losing a lap on two different occasions. At times during the race we were as quick as anybody out there, but track position means so much and it's so hard to pass. When you're racing these guys, you have one guy (who is) a little bit slower holding up a whole pack, and then it takes you fifty laps, sixty laps before you can ever get past."

Nemechek retains his eighteenth position in the Winston Cup point standings for the third week in a row. Rusty Wallace was the winner of the goracing.com 500, with Tony Stewart finishing second, Mark Martin third, Dale Earnhardt fourth, and Steve Park fifth.

The next race for the Oakwood Homes Chevrolet will be The Southern 500 at the Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. Live television coverage begins at 1:00 P.M. on ESPN. MRN Radio will provide live radio coverage.

Text provided by Tiffany Ricardo

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.