Though his momentum took a detour in Las Vegas Sunday, Joe Nemechek’s confidence level has stayed on course as he prepares for this weekend’s Nextel Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Nemechek entered the Las Vegas race seventh in points, but an early accident—Lap 17 of 267—ruined his day with a 38th-place finish. He dropped to 20th in the point standings.
“After our qualifying and practice sessions in Las Vegas we really felt that we were going to be a contender, ” said Nemechek. “Unfortunately we weren’t able to show our hand in Vegas. That’s the frustrating news. The good news is that we had a strong car and will have another one in Atlanta this weekend. “
Nemechek will drive a new car in Atlanta, built at the Ginn Racing shop in Mooresville, N.C. Crew chief Peter Sospenzo is excited about the new No. 13 Chevrolet that will showcase the Ginn Resorts colors for the Kobalt Tools 500.
“We’re fired up about this new car after seeing the results from our wind tunnel test last week, ” said Sospenzo. “You need the entire package at Atlanta—horsepower, aero and handling. We believe we have it all and with Joe’s past performances at this track, we’re definitely pumped about this weekend. “
Nemechek has scored one runner-up, three top fives and six top 10s at Atlanta’s super-fast 1.5-mile oval. His most recent top 10 in Atlanta was a ninth-place result in last year’s fall race.
“Once again, we have to take it one step at a time, ” said Nemechek, who needs to qualify on speed. “Our main focus Friday will be qualifying. The draw is going to be important since we qualify in the evening. The conditions will be more ripe to click off a fast lap late in the session. We’ve had good cars at every race this year and I look for another strong performance by our No. 13 Chevrolet in Atlanta. ”
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