NASCAR Cup
Fontana: Joe Nemechek preview
Q: Who was the first NASCAR Cup pole winner at California Speedway? A: Joe Nemechek, June 22, 1997. It was also Nemechek's first of six career Cup poles. Despite Bad Breaks, Nemechek Still has Plenty of Staying Power FONTANA, Calif. (April ...
Published: Apr 28, 2004, 9:18 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Q: Who was the first NASCAR Cup pole winner at California Speedway?
A: Joe Nemechek, June 22, 1997. It was also Nemechek's first of six career Cup poles.
Despite Bad Breaks, Nemechek Still has Plenty of Staying Power
FONTANA, Calif. (April 27, 2004) -- It's not a pleasant feeling for what Joe Nemechek is currently going through. But the veteran U.S. Army driver has been there before and knows that only time, grit and patience will solve his problem.
And since time is of the essence, especially in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup driver point standings, Nemechek is hoping that this weekend's Auto Club 500 at California Speedway will be the event that he breaks out of the dreaded "Bad Luck Phase" that has been hampering his recent performances.
"At the last three races the Army cars were excellent, but the performances didn't translate into the results that I felt we deserved," said Nemechek, who dropped to 19th in driver points. "I've been through these (bad luck) streaks before and believe me it does test your staying power.But no matter how frustrating or discouraging the incidents have been, the only thing you can do is to keep battling, and eventually the tide will turn."
Speaking of a turning tide, Nemechek has every right to feel confident as he heads to the West Coast. The U.S. Army/USG Chevrolet that he will have in California is the same car that he enjoyed a solid run with at Texas Motor Speedway until a spark plug broke late in the race.
"I am convinced we would have had at least a third-place finish in Texas had we not had the spark plug problem," explained Nemechek. "That's a great racecar that we'll be bringing to California."
The Texas race (April 4) started the bad-luck streak for the Army team. At the next event in Martinsville, Va., Nemechek was looking at a possible top-10 finish but that went south when he got spun out as the race was winding down.
During Sunday's competition at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, the No. 01 U.S. Army Chevy was a missile as it ran up front for the majority of the event. But on lap 146 of 188, an over heating problem forced Nemechek to retire from the race with a 32nd place finish.
"It's too depressing to figure out how many (driver) points we left on the table at the last three races," said Nemechek. "I know it's a lot.But a good (baseball) hitter doesn't stay in a slump forever. And we're a good team -- it's just a matter of time before we snap out of this."
-mb2-
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Dodge - Larry Carter teleconference
Next article Fontana: Kevin Harvick preview
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Joe Nemechek
Nemechek takes emotional Truck win at Gateway
NASCAR Truck
NASCAR Truck
Gateway
Nemechek takes emotional Truck win at Gateway
Both Joe and John Hunter Nemechek will attempt Truck race at Daytona
NASCAR Truck
NASCAR Truck
Both Joe and John Hunter Nemechek will attempt Truck race at Daytona
The Nemecheks are holding their own in modern NASCAR
NASCAR Truck
NASCAR Truck
The Nemecheks are holding their own in modern NASCAR
Latest news
Official race results: 2026 NASCAR Cup Phoenix II
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
6 min
Official race results: 2026 NASCAR Cup Phoenix II
Tyler Reddick wins Phoenix NASCAR Cup thriller as Kyle Larson crashes
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
11 min
Tyler Reddick wins Phoenix NASCAR Cup thriller as Kyle Larson crashes
WEC Barcelona: Toyota scores dominant 1-2 to seal manufacturers’ title
WEC
WEC WEC
Barcelona
6 h
WEC Barcelona: Toyota scores dominant 1-2 to seal manufacturers’ title
Hailie Deegan eying NASCAR Truck return but future plans remain uncertain
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Phoenix
6 h
Hailie Deegan eying NASCAR Truck return but future plans remain uncertain
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe