Winning races tops Nemechek's list for '06

Veteran driver wants to elevate No. 01 team to Chase contender

By Josh Pate, NASCAR.COM
January 22, 2006
11:09 AM EST (16:09 GMT)
 
Make no mistake -- Joe Nemechek is not content with finishing 16th in the points.

And don't think that "Front Row Joe" is OK with collecting a good starting spot on Fridays, either. He's more concerned about Sundays.

Joe Nemechek
Credit: Autostock
Inside the Numbers
Joe Nemechek in 2005
Wins 0
Top-5s 2
Top-10s 9
DNFs 2
Poles 1
Laps Led 147
Avg. Start 16.2
Avg. Finish 18.6
Earnings $4,098,606

"Well, as for the U.S. Army team, we're here to win races," Nemechek said. "Last year, we had a finish of 16th in the points ... it was definitely disappointing for myself and I think for the team, too."

Last season's finish was Nemechek's second-best of his career. He tied a career high with nine top-10s and posted two top-fives. But he had higher aspirations.

Without parking his No. 01 Chevrolet in Victory Lane, Nemechek says the team obviously has room for improvement this year, particularly in being consistent -- the top aspect that could land him in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

"We had top-three finishes going, and something happened to us," he said. "A lot of crazy things happened. Before the Chase started, give us one of those races back, [and] we'd have been locked in the Chase.

"So you know, there's a lot of woulda, coulda, shouldas, but we didn't get in the Chase, and we ended up 16th in points."

One of the races Nemechek might like back is Indianapolis, where he finished 28th. It was the only time during a 12-race span leading up to the Chase that he finished outside of the top 25. Included in his streak were back-to-back top-10s at Pocono and Michigan and later at Watkins Glen and Michigan, where he had his only pole-position start.

Wishing, however, isn't what Nemechek is doing to get ready for '06.

He signed a two-year contract with MB2 Motorsports last season, providing the first step in team consistency.

The next step -- start the season on the right foot.

Last year, he began with a 13th-place finish at Daytona but had subsequent finishes of 39th, 19th, 35th and 33rd. He says that can't happen this year.

"As they say in the Army, 'You don't get any points for second place when you're fighting these battles out there,'" Nemechek said. "When the Army car is running out front, I know the soldiers, wherever they are around the world, that makes them feel good, and that makes me feel good."

Joining Nemechek this season at MB2 Motorsports is fellow veteran Sterling Marlin, driver of the No. 14 Chevy. Both turned heads when they arrived at Daytona for testing earlier this month.

Nemechek had top-10 speeds in every outing but one and posted the second-fastest lap of the Day 2 morning session. Marlin was also among the fastest. But Nemechek's crew chief Ryan Pemberton kept the testing speeds all in perspective.

"You don't get points, money or trophies for a good test session," Pemberton said. "I like to stay even keel and make sure that we have every piece of the jigsaw [puzzle] in proper order when we return here next month."

When the team comes back to Daytona for Speedweeks, it won't be just to turn fast laps.

"We're there to win," said Nemechek, who grew up in Lakeland, Fla., just more than 100 miles from Daytona Beach. "The 500 is going to be fun. We have got two experienced guys that hopefully we can get hooked up and make some noise when we come back."