Nemechek wins Busch shootout at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Joe Nemechek used a dominant Pontiac Friday night to score a convincing victory in the inaugural NASCAR Busch Series Stacker 2/GNC Live Well 250 at Daytona International -- but he had to fight a two-lap battle to do it.

Joe Nemechek scored his 12th career Busch Series win and his second at Daytona. Credit: Autostock

Nemechek led four times for 78 of 100 laps to score his 12th career Busch Series victory. He held off new series point leader Greg Biffle's No. 60 Grainger Ford by .190 seconds to win his second Daytona Busch Series race.

Nemechek, from Lakeland, about 110 miles to the west of Daytona Beach, touched off a huge family celebration in Victory Lane after he became the first Daytona Busch Series winner to score from the pole since the late Dale Earnhardt accomplished it in the 1982 inaugural.

"The car had an awesome motor," said Nemechek. "It was unbelievable. We changed a lot this morning. I wasn't happy after Happy Hour last night. We changed quite a few things on it, and it drove perfect all day long.

Greg Biffle (60) races Jamie McMurray (27). McMurray scored his second top-five of 2002. Credit: Autostock

"We wanted to come down here and run good. My dad and my brother, Mark didn't make it down but I've got the rest of the family here."

A 16-car accident set up the finish with the seventh caution of the event. A 17-minute red flag was needed to clean up debris off Turn 2.

The 96th-lap wreck occurred after Busch Series point leader Jack Sprague got loose underneath Todd Bodine in Turn 2. It was the second multi-car accident in the space of 13 laps.

The first occurred at lap 85 when the lap-down car of Kerry Earnhardt spun out coming off Turn 4 and speared Nemechek's teammate, Randy LaJoie, into the outside wall.

Bobby Hamilton Jr. was hit by another car as he tried to enter pit road. He finished 33rd.

The only injury in the two accidents was a mild concussion suffered by Christian Elder, who was treated and released from the track's infield care center.

Nemechek took the final green with two laps remaining with his tracks being dogged not only by Biffle, but also by the next six cars in line. Nemechek had pulled Biffle past leader Mike McLaughlin with 37 laps to go but the Roush Racing driver could never mount a serious challenge.

"This was a brand new restrictor-plate car the guys built after we wrecked the other one at Talladega," Biffle said. "The car didn't drive like the other one did. It was a little bit freer but a little bit tighter at the same time. I tried to keep it on the bottom but I just couldn't get a run on Joe."

Randy LaJoie's bid for a fourth Daytona win was ended by a crash on lap 85.

No one else could mount a charge on Nemechek.

"This car is the most expensive car I've ever built," Nemechek said. "This is the third body that's been on it but it's only raced about 12 laps before we got down here, but this is awesome."

Third-place Kevin Lepage scored his best finish -- and his best career result at Daytona -- since taking over for the injured Jeff Purvis in the No. 37 Sequoia Pontiac. Lepage dedicated the effort to Purvis.

Jason Keller and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top five. Johnny Sauter scored his best finish in 14 races with a sixth, followed by McLaughlin, Jimmy Spencer, Kevin Grubb and Stacy Compton.

Sprague ended up 28th and unofficially ended the night third in points, 45 behind Biffle and six behind Keller.