Front Row Joe (Nemechek), the Ray Everham story, Ricky Craven, and the NAPA AutoCare 500 from Martinsville Speedway, Martinsville, Virginia.
Front Row Joe.... New Ride...
Joe Nemechek is going places in Winston Cup (WC) Racing. I'm not sure it was his choice, but he's going places anyway. According to NASCAR Online, he will be driving the Andy Petree Racing's No. 33 Chevy for the next two seasons. The fact that he's won his first Cup race didn't daunt Felix Sabatas's decision not to renew Joe's contract. Felix says you can't go back, when you make a decision, you have to stick to it.
This goes to show you how much pressure these drivers are under to win for their owners and sponsors. It is clearly evident with Kenny Irwin. Once the announcement was made that he would no longer be driving for Robert Yates, his performance on the track changed for the better. He was back to his old self again. The pressure seemed to be gone, or was it? It seems to me that there has to be pressure that a jobless driver puts on himself to enhance his chances of landing a good ride with another team. But apparently, it isn't as severe. It almost seems like these guys are having fun again, doing what they love to do without the pressure.
I think Andy Petree made a great choice. I would imagine that when Front Row Joe won the pole last Friday afternoon at Martinsville, Andy thought so too! What I'm wondering is this, can Andy Petree Racing put the quality of car under Joe that he needs to win? Ken Schrader didn't take any checkered flags with Petree, getting close only counts in Horseshoes and Shuffleboard.
While we're on the subject of Joe Nemechek, another contributing editor here at Suite101.com has written an article concerning Joe's first win. Apparently, Reginald Vickers, contributing editor of Online Shopping shares something very special with Joe and Andrea Nemechek. Check out Joe causes trouble around the water cooler .
The big Buzzzzzz..... Ray Everham Story...
The WC community has been in a big stir now for more than two weeks about the departure of Ray Everham from Hendrick Motorsports, Jeff Gordon, and the Rainbow Warrior's team. It was made official this last week, when Rick Hendrick released Ray from his contract to pursue his dream of owning his own team. There have been varying reports as to what, when, where, and how Ray will do this, but at this point, it's all speculation. One story even alluded to the fact that Ray had a deal with Dodge? Who knows, maybe he'll start out by fielding a Craftsman Truck Team. Then there's the report that Dodge is building a Cup car for the 2001 season? Until something concrete and official comes down the pike, I'm not going to write anymore about it!
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