Joe Nemechek finished sixth Sunday at New Hampshire. Credit: Autostock

Nemechek strong again at New Hampshire

LOUDON, N.H. -- Joe Nemechek knew he had a good car, knew it.

And he should have confidence at New Hampshire International Speedway, for this is where Nemechek got his first Cup start (in 1993) and his first Cup victory (1999).

But Sunday's Sylvania 300 was a different matter. Ten guys would begin their Chase for the Nextel Cup, and 33 other guys would do their best from stealing all the headlines.

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Nemechek was among the 33 others, and he was buried back in the field at the start of Sunday's race. A string of poor luck and poor finishes left Nemechek's MB2 Motorsports team in 25th place in the Nextel Cup standings, and after Friday's rainout of qualifying, that's where he started.

At a flat track like NHIS, making up those spots can be difficult. Passing is tough, for it's hard to get grip in the corners.

But Ryan Pemberton had another idea. While Nemechek's crew chief wanted to get the car working well enough to be able to pass on the track, he figured it would be easier to pass in the pits.

So when the race went yellow on Lap 18 for Robby Gordon's first spin, Pemberton's wheels started spinning. He brought Nemechek in then, knowing another NASCAR-mandated caution was coming at Lap 35.

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Pit now, stay out at the next caution to get track position, and hope for the best.

Turned out Pemberton was right.

"Ryan made some great pre-race decisions," said Nemechek, who ended up sixth Sunday. "One of the key moments for us today came early when we did not pit during the second caution. We gained a lot of spots by staying out, and everybody knows that track position is so important at this track.

"The reason we didn't pit on that second caution was because the car was that good. And when you have a good car, you can afford to take some gambles. That was a perfect call by Ryan."

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Nemechek went from 19th to seventh on the second caution and stayed in the top 10 the rest of the day. The sixth-place finish matches Nemechek's best effort of the season, but the other sixth was way back in the Daytona 500.

"Overall, it was an excellent performance," Nemechek said. "The car was good all day and the guys did an awesome job with the pit stops, especially the last one when we really needed it. I was able to pass today, and once I got to the front I stayed there."

Nemechek stayed in the top 10 for 252 of the race's 300 laps. And while the strategy helped him get to the front, a good car and a solid drive kept him there.

Before the halfway point, Nemechek sat fifth behind Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Ryan Newman. He and Busch were the first of the leaders to pit on lap 256, but Nemechek had slipped to sixth before the final caution on lap 276.

"We needed long runs to make the car go, and that's what we got," Nemechek said. "I hated to give up a top five at the end, but it's just a good feeling to get a little momentum on our side right now."

He was 12th two weeks ago at California and 13th two races before that at Michigan. Not gaudy numbers, for sure, but the performance at NHIS bodes well for his team.

Remember, the last time Nemechek raced at New Hampshire, he started 18th and finished 20th.

"When you come into a race without any practice time that makes for a very difficult situation," Nemechek said. "But we're learning. We weren't good the first time we came here in July, but we learned from that race."