Nemechek nabs win in season finale

By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
November 12, 2001
11:58 AM EST (1658 GMT)

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Veteran Joe Nemechek ran down NASCAR Busch Series rookie Scott Wimmer with less than six laps to go and went on to win Saturday’s GNC Live Well 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Joe Nemechek enjoys the cool-down lap.

It was another emotional Homestead victory for Nemechek, whose younger brother John died from injuries suffered here in 1997 in a Craftsman Truck Series crash. Joe Nemechek won the 1997 and 1999 Busch Series events on the 1.5-mile speedway.

“This just means so much -- it’s hard to come back here every year but it’s one of my best tracks -- I just love coming here,” Nemechek said in Victory Lane, surrounded by his young son, John Hunter, wife Andrea and mother Martha. “We thought we would have had a couple other races by now. The setup on the car was perfect and I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

Video: Victory Lane  Video: Closing laps  Video: Fittipaldi spins  GNC Live Well Results  Busch Series Standings  Nemechek's Driver Page  Nemechek Two-Spot Tee!  Harvick blows motor, celebrates title

Nemechek beat Elton Sawyer to the line by 1.247 seconds to score his 11th career victory and second of the year.

Wimmer, Greg Biffle, who has all but clinched the rookie of the year award with his 16th top-five of the season, and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top five.

Michael Waltrip, who wrecked his primary car in the weekend’s first practice; Ward Burton; Ryan Newman; defending Busch Series champion Jeff Green; and Stacy Compton, who made his first start of the season for ST Motorsports, rounded out the top 10.

Busch Series champion Kevin Harvick, who clinched his first championship last weekend at North Carolina Speedway, appeared to have the car to score his sixth win this season.

He led 128 of the first 160 laps but his Chevrolet’s engine blew up on lap 161 and he finished 37th.

Sawyer appeared to be in good position when his crew gave him the lead under the first caution at lap 111 with a 15.8-second pit stop. He had advanced from his 10th starting spot and was a contender all day.

“We had a really good car all day, but in all honesty, we had a second-place car,” Sawyer said in deference to Harvick. “(At the end), Our car needed four tires and (crew chief) Ricky (Viers) made a great call -- I didn’t consider anything, I was driving my ass off.”

Joe Nemechek lights up the tires for the crowd.

“It was a pretty good run,” Biffle said. “I feel bad -- I ran into the jack guy and had a bad pit stop. The middle set of tires wasn’t as good as the first and the last, but we kept adjusting on it and finally got it good at the end.”

Wimmer, whose best previous finish was fourth at Nashville Superspeedway in March, ran the final 89 laps of the 1.5-mile speedway without a pit stop.

He nearly made a fuel mileage gamble pay off for his first career victory but was easy pickings in Turn 1 on lap 195 for Nemechek, who had taken tires with less than 30 laps left.

“It was not a bad day for the Jani-King Pontiac,” Wimmer said. “We decided to do a gas mileage deal on that last set of tires and we weren’t as quick. I had my eyes on them (pursuers Nemechek and Sawyer) quite a bit. I saw Nemechek coming and I tried to push it harder, but we were just out of tires.”

Green led the first 18 laps, but after 30 laps started to fall back with a car he could not hold on the bottom of the race track.

“We had Happy Hour yesterday in the evening -- it was almost dark,” Green said. “Today in the sunshine, the car just went away because we had the wrong shock package under it. We adjusted it, but could never get it where it needed to be. At least we found out what not to do tomorrow.”

Joe Nemechek celebrates his third career Busch Series victory at Homestead.

By the time the field had run 40 laps, Harvick was nearly nine seconds clear of Newman. Harvick gave up the lead to Kenseth when he made his first pit stop under green at lap 67.

Kenseth pitted four laps later, and after Nemechek and Parker Jr. also cycled into the pits, Harvick retook the lead at lap 72. At lap 80, he was seven seconds clear of Kenseth’s No. 17 Chevrolet.

After the only caution of the race, it took Harvick only two laps to get the lead back and he led until he broke.

Indy car drivers Casey Mears and Christian Fittipaldi got a good lesson in stock car racing.

Fittipaldi was rudely dumped into a spin and crash into the outside wall in Turn 2, bringing out the first caution at lap 111. Fittipaldi, three laps down to leader Harvick at the time, spun after Hank Parker Jr. ran into his left rear corner. He finished 39th.

Mears, who will run for Raybestos Rookie of the Year for Welliver-Jesel Motorsports in 2002, finished 28th in the No. 66 Chevrolet, four laps down. The team plans to switch to Dodges next season.