MBV/MB2 opens year with different roster

CONCORD, N.C. -- By the end of the 2003 season, the MBV/MB2 Motorsports organization knew it needed a change of direction for 2004.

On the eve of Speedweeks 2004, the season opening events at Daytona International Speedway, the two-team operation feels like it has the key elements in place.

	Scott Riggs will run for Rookie of the Year. He has never started a Nextel Cup event.

General manager Jay Frye and his organization opted for a mix of veteran and rookie when it announced its plans at the end of 2003, so Joe Nemechek will wheel the No. 01 Chevrolet while Scott Riggs will be in the No. 10 Monte Carlo.

Neither team achieved at the level ownership expected in 2003. Johnny Benson scored two top-five and four top-10 finishes, with a best of fourth in the season finale.

Six drivers piloted the No. 01 Pontiac, with Jerry Nadeau scoring a season-high best finish of fourth at Texas.

Nemechek was the final driver to step into the car last season in a rotation of substitutes that resulted when Nadeau suffered multiple injuries in a heavy crash during practice at Richmond International Raceway in May.

Nemechek drove the final four races of 2003 and, after January's Preseason Thunder testing at Daytona described himself and the team ready to continue the stellar qualifying performance they exhibited in 2003 -- starting for all four events in the top 10.

"Having the opportunity to be with the 01 team for the final four races was a huge bonus in getting us ready for 2004," Nemechek said. "When you have a good team backing you, along with a great team chemistry, it makes for fun."

Nemechek had plenty of that when his new team tested at Daytona, posting some of the fastest speeds on a daily basis.

	Nemechek was one of six drivers to wheel the No. 01 Pontiac in 2003. Credit: Autostock

"In a short time of getting to know each other, I really feel we have clicked as a unit and have done some good things," Nemechek said. "I keep saying this Army team has a bright future and I'm happy I'll be part of it."

Despite scoring a 10th place in his opening run with the team, Nemechek was hard on himself when assessing his race day performance.

"We definitely figured out how to qualify," Nemechek said. "But we need to do a better job in translating our qualifying success to race success."

"Joe's performance was much better than the results," crew chief Ryan Pemberton said. "We had some things go wrong with the car in those (last four) races, but Joe hung in there and gave us a solid effort at each race.

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"I felt we did some neat things at the final four races and I am confident that it's going to pay some good dividends for us in 2004."

"It's hard not to get excited about the potential of this team," Nemechek said. "We're clicking and just need to continue the momentum."

On the No. 10 outfit, a decision was made late in 2003 to release Benson in spite of another year remaining on his contract. The veteran, who gave the organization its first Cup victory in 2002 at Rockingham, finished the season in the No. 10.

MB2/MBV MOTORSPORTS May 2, 2003: Nadeau injured in a practice accident at RIR Play video  •  MB2 team page  •  MBV team page

Thus Riggs will make his Nextel Cup debut in qualifying for his first Daytona 500. The daunting prospect hasn't lessened his enthusiasm in the least as he settled in with his new team.

"This is an exciting time for all of us," Riggs said. "Just thinking about the Daytona 500 is an awesome feeling. It's the biggest and most prestigious race and we want to come out of the gate with a strong statement."

Beyond that, in his first test session with his new team Riggs felt a lot of affinity for his new teammates.

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"Everybody is real enthusiastic and you can see it in the way they work," Riggs said. "They seem to have a new excitement about everything -- about the racecar and as far as the new people and the new team and the way we're all pulling together."

MBV made a critical decision in that transition when it hired Riggs' Busch Series crew chief at ppc Racing, Doug Randolph, to make the move to Nextel Cup with him.

ALSO  CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Jerry Nadeau's recovery from a serious head injury is progressing a little too slowly for his liking, and worse yet for him, Nadeau can't hazard a guess as to when he'll be back in a racecar.  Nadeau, appearing during the first day of the UAW-GM Motorsports Media Tour hosted by Lowe's Motor Speedway, has completely healed from the crash at Richmond International Raceway last May - except for the brain injury.  Full Story

"Up to this point in my career, I've never had a crew chief for a second year in a row, so having that communication already built there between myself and Doug is definitely a huge factor," Riggs said. "I think it would have been virtually impossible to come to a new team with a new car in a new series and to have a new crew chief -- you really wouldn't have anything to lean on."

Assisting the team in the switch it's making this season from the Pontiac Grand Prix it used in 2003 to Chevrolets, following the other GM brand's opting out of Cup racing, is a two-driver effort in the Budweiser Shootout.

Boris Said won the Bud Pole at Infineon and Mike Skinner did the same in the fall at Richmond. Said will drive a No. 01 Chevy while the team, per a promise it made to Skinner after he won the pole during a short stint driving the car, will be in a No. 10 Monte Carlo.

"Having both teams in the Budweiser Shootout is a real tribute to the strength of our operation," Frye said. "It's a great way to start the new season and I'm confident that it will also enhance our Daytona 500 program."

Nadeau, meanwhile, will continue his slow paced recovery from his head injury. Nadeau managed to conduct a test session at a North Carolina short track at the end of last year, but has not put a definite timeline on his next test, or a racing schedule.

The organization, in conjunction with its ally, Hendrick Motorsports, said it would enable Nadeau to race a schedule of ARCA Series, Busch Series and Nextel Cup races if he deems himself ready to do so.