'66 'Tang

NEMCO #87 Owner Points After Dover (5/31/09)

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Ouch! Failing drive shaft took Joe Nemechek's #87 out of the race at lap 67. For more info/opinion/analysis, check the notes on the charts.

NEMCO #87 Owner Points After Lowe's Motor Speedway (5/24/09)

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See notes on graphics. With the season 1/3 complete, it's getting harder to make up ground on Top-35.

NEMCO #87 Owner Points After Darlington (5/9/09)

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Added "The Race for Top-35" this week looking for trends among the competition for that T-35 Owner position. Going to watch this for a couple of weeks before making predictions about overtaking the competition. When you look at this chart and the "NEMCO #87 Owner Points Tracking", it does look doable.

NEMCO #87 Owner Points After Richmond (5/2/09)

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NEMCO #87 performing surprisingly close to prediction, despite most weeks without sponsorship.

Big tip of the hat to folks like Huckleberry's Barbeque Sauce, Finncastle and Maui Showers for helping to fill the sponsorship gap when they can.

NEMCO #87 Owner Points After Talladega (4/26/09)

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Still pondering how to assess both Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series as a total package for NEMCO #87. In the meantime, 'dega was pretty good to the team. Looked like a Top-10 finish, if not for all the Yellow Flags and restarts in the last dozen laps. Started 17th; finished 14th and on the lead lap. When the car doesn't break, Joe looks very good.

NEMCO #87 Owner Points After Phoenix (4/18/09)

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Hey, all. Going to change content a little over the next couple of weeks. It makes sense to assess #87 as a package in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series. Gonna figure a way to do that and then start doing that over the next couple of weeks.

NEMCO #87 Owner Points After Texas (4/5/09)

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Missed making the show by 1/100th second. Not much to say, after that. 35 Owner gained a little, while we lost a little. Still, one data point is not a trend. Hoping for better at Phoenix.
Short week, this week: Nationwide Series Friday night; Sprint Cup Saturday night.

NEMCO #87 Owner Points After Martinsville (3/29/09)

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Not much to say this week. DNFs will not get Joe/#87 into Top-35.

Hmm. That sounds kind of harsh. What I meant to say is: #87 gets sponsors = #87 gets some spares (maybe even another car or two) = #87 gets to finish races ... probably with some very good finish positions. Potential sponsors: hooking up with Joe Nemechek is a very positive place for your brand. He is everything honorable about NASCAR and the sport of auto racing. And, your name will be seen and talked about.

NEMCO #87 Owner Points After Bristol (3/22/09)

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This is a busy chart this week, friends. Showing "Optimistic" and "More Likely" forecasts for #87 breaking the Top-35 threshold.

This week at Bristol (first time on a short track with our own #87), Joe qualified the #87 Nemco Motorsports/Huckleberry's BBQ Toyota Camry into the 28th spot on the grid (that's 4 in a row on speed - 5, if you count Daytona Quals vs Duels). Rear end gear problems took Joe into the garage and out of the race at lap 82 (of 500). Another tough day ... but, the car is intact for Martinsville (I assume this will be the chassis and set-up they'll use there).

Now, I'm gonna buy me some Huckleberry's BBQ sauce.

NEMCO #87 Owner Points After Atlanta (3/8/09)

Excellent qualifying run (8th fastest in the entire field) trumped by parts issues, again (no front brakes and a bad wheel bearing rendering car near impossible to manage around the track). Came out for good at lap 110. Well, the car is still in one piece, anyway.

Added #87 Top-35 prediction this week, based on 1st 4 races. It's optimistic in that it doesn't allow much, if any, wiggle room for more parts issues.

NEMCO #87 Owner Points After Las Vegas (3/1/09)

Penalty for pit error (missed lug nut) put #87 down an extra lap early in the race. Lost transmission around midpoint of race (lap 110). By that time, #87 was not going to lose anymore positions at finish and very unlikely to gain any, if they'd put a new transmission in and got back on the track. Better to take an intact car to Atlanta.

NEMCO #87 Owner Points After Fontana-1 (2/22/09)

Qualified for Fontana-1. That was the good news ... #87 is fast enough to get in.

Dropped out early due to failed fuel pump. Team decided smartest thing to do is pack up and head straight to Las Vegas with car in one piece and get ready for the next race. Las Vegas is 1.5 miles (vs Fontana 2.0 miles) and slightly increased banking in the turns (20' vs 14', respectively). Historically, a little bit slower track. That can help #87, I think.

NEMCO #87 Owner Points After Daytona-1 (2/15/09)

Only discouraging thing about Daytona-1 this year remains the way cars qualify - keeps some pretty fast cars (like Joe's #87) out of the line-up.

On the upside, we didn't get our car crashed. We've got assets for SoCal this week. Looking forward to Fontana.