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.

FRR/#78 Owner Points update after Homestead, 11/16/08

Well, it's over for 2008 … and it wasn't as pretty as we Joe Nemechek & FRR fans had hoped. Safe to say, a single-car team has some distinct disadvantages to overcome.

I'm going to wait until we learn what FRR's definition of a "limited schedule" is for next season before I speculate much about 2009. I'm guessing performance in the first five races will add or subtract races for FRR. To all my Nemechek Nation Friends, have a good off-season. Go have some fun at your local track.

FRR/#78 Owner Points update after Phoenix, 11/9/08

(See chart notes)

FRR/#78 Owner Points update after Texas, 11/2/08

(See chart notes)