Team: Haas-Carter Motorsports
Car/sponsor/make: No. 26 Kmart Ford
| |  |
| | Nemechek |
|
STATS
|
Year
|
Rank
|
Wins
|
Poles
|
Top-5s
|
Best finish
|
|
2001
|
28
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
1st, Rockingham
|
|
Career
|
|
2
|
6
|
8
|
1st, Rockingham and NHIS
|
2001 recap
The good: High points were few and far between for Nemechek behind the wheel
of the No. 33 Oakwood Homes Chevrolet in 2001. He earned only one victory --
which was also his only top-5 finish of the season -- at the fall race in
Rockingham. He also had three other top-10 finishes: 6th and 8th
at Talladega and 7th at the MBNA Cal Ripken Jr. 400 at Dover.
Season highlight: Nemechek's win at Rockingham gave the team somewhat of a
going-away present, given that primary sponsor Oakwood Homes was due to leave
the team at the end of the season. Nemechek's departure as driver followed
shortly thereafter, replacing Jimmy Spencer as Todd Bodine's teammate with
the Haas-Carter Motorsports team as part of the two-car Kmart Racing team.
Nemechek has been friends with Bodine (who, ironically, finished right behind
Nemechek in 29th position in the Cup standings) for several years and is more
akin in style and personality to Bodine than Spencer was, which should make
for a more solid and fruitful relationship for the overall team in 2002.
The bad: With only one top-5 finish (albeit a victory), the loss of the
team's primary sponsor and the uncertain future of the Andy Petree Racing
operation, Nemechek decided to bolt teams when Jimmy Spencer moved to Chip
Ganassi's team for the 2002 season. What's more, Nemechek fell from a
career-high 15th in the standings in 2000 to 28th this past season.
Season lowlight: Nemechek recorded nine finishes of 30th or higher in 2001,
including 31st, 39th and 20th in the season's last three races (all three
finishes coming immediately after his win at Rockingham). Knowing that the
primary sponsor was leaving, and that Nemechek was likely headed to different
pastures, it seemed that the team basically played out its string in the
final three races -- and the results bore that out.
|  |
| Joe Nemechek celebrates his win at Rockingham last year. |
Key stat: Nemechek continued to show consistently good finishes in
superspeedway competition, finishing 6th and 8th in both races at Talladega
in 2001, and 11th in the Daytona 500. Those kinds of finishes are why
Nemechek is considered one of the better superspeedway drivers on the Winston
Cup circuit.
2002 outlook
What needs to be done: Although primary sponsor Kmart is going through some
tough financial times currently, the team has assurances that funding will
not be compromised in 2002 and that all the plans in place will not be
altered due to financial cutbacks within the Kmart organization. Because
Nemechek and Bodine are friends, transitional time and time to get to know
each other will be minimal, at best. The biggest key for Nemechek will be
getting used to a new system, new car style (Ford instead of Chevrolet) new
crew chief and new team members.
Prediction: Haas-Carter Motorsports is perhaps one of the most unsung
operations in Winston Cup today. It just needs a few more wins and a lot more
breaks to put it in the echelon of teams such as Hendrick, Yates and
Childress. Bodine had some outstanding showings in his first season with the
team in 2001, and with the addition of Nemechek, the team should be even
better in 2002. As a result, Nemechek should have a better season than the
one he just finished, and could easily return back to the top-15 or top-20 if
luck is on his side for much of the upcoming campaign.
Your take
Was Nemechek's second-career win a sign of things to come? Or have we already seen the best of him? Here are your thoughts.
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