Nemechek to start in familiar spot at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- If Friday night's Stacker 2/GNC Live Well 250 at Daytona International Speedway is as dramatic as Wednesday night's Bud Pole Qualifying session, a new mid-summer classic may be in the making.

Joe Nemechek won his third straight NASCAR Busch Series pole with a spectacular second lap in his No. 87 Cellular One Pontiac. Nemechek's first lap was slower than Scott Wimmer's, but his second lap in 48.441 seconds, an average speed of 185.793 mph, was .089 seconds faster than Wimmer's and created the seventh and final change of pole sitters.

"It was a good team effort -- this was the car I got in a big wreck in at Talladega," Nemechek said. "They worked hard at replacing most of the body (and) it's running good again. We have put like three bodies on this car and raced it maybe three laps. I've got so much money in it I am bound and determined to race it.

"We found some things that were missing and maybe cost us the pole at Talladega and we used them here. My lap was kind of scary. I got too close to the wall on my first lap and hit some big bumps I wasn't aware were up there and I almost hit the wall."

	Scott Wimmer Credit: ASP

Wimmer, running his first race in a Dodge and using the No. 23 Siemens Intrepid that David Green put on the outside of the front row for February's EAS/GNC Live Well 300 here when it was in the colors of Tommy Baldwin Racing, was clocked in 48.530 seconds, 185.452 mph.

He had predicted after his run that Nemechek, who ran 11 cars after him, was his biggest fear. That came despite Nemechek being only 18th best in practice.

"These Bill Davis guys give me great cars and this was another one," Wimmer said. "This is the first time we've been in a Dodge in the Busch Series and it's super fast. The car was pretty easy to drive -- pretty free off the corner, but that's what you need to be fast here."

Three-time Daytona Busch race winner Randy LaJoie in the No. 7 Kleenex/Scott Chevrolet (184.691 mph), Jay Sauter in the No. 21 Rockwell Chevrolet (184.619) and Kevin Lepage in the No. 37 Sequoia Chevrolet (184.358) rounded out the top-five.

LaJoie tipped his hat to Nemechek, who owns the NEMCO Motorsports complex where the No. 87 and No. 7 cars are prepared, the latter for owner Ed Evans.

	Randy LaJoie Credit: ASP

"Front Row Joe is awfully tough," LaJoie said. "This is one of his old race cars. We killed our car at Talladega and took this one out of the back of the shop. NEMCO has more notes about restrictor plate races than a lot of Winston Cup teams."

"Randy has got one of our cars that won a couple races so he's gonna be pretty good, too," Nemechek said. "We have really good race cars."

Sauter might have won the pole, except he only ran one lap. His first circuit was in 48.749 seconds and most drivers picked up anywhere from two to three tenths of a second from one lap to the next -- except Nemechek, who gained a stunning .713 seconds.

"It just was a matter of water temperature," Sauter said. "It started to spike coming off (Turn) 2 on the second lap and the thing is, we've got to race this motor Friday night. That will get us somewhere where we can see the front and we'll be happy with it."

Sauter was one of several top qualifiers who returned with a car that had been massacred in the 29-car pileup in April's Aaron's 312 at Talladega. He was happy to have had this race added to his original schedule of 14 events, as he shares the car with RCR Winston Cup driver Jeff Green.

"We destroyed this car at Talladega and the boys at Richard Childress Racing went to work and have built a beautiful car," Sauter said. "From the time we unloaded it today it was awesome. Obviously, the hat's got to go off to the engine department, too -- Spenny (Clendenin) and the boys -- they never quit, too."

Bobby Hamilton Jr., who was second fastest in the two-hour afternoon practice session, went out next to last but faltered badly on his qualifying run, ending up only seventh fastest in the No. 25 U.S. Marines Ford.

Stacy Compton, Hamilton Jr., Scott Riggs, Busch Series point leader Jack Sprague and last weekend's winner Greg Biffle qualified sixth-10th.

With only 43 cars on hand, every entrant qualified, with drivers Dan Pardus, Jimmy Kitchens, Jeff Spraker, Mike Harmon, Larry Gunselman, Brad Teague and Robbie Benton using provisional starting positions to line up 37th-43rd.