Weekend That Was: AMS (cont'd)

Front-row Joe

While Martin has gained all the attention, and rightly so, for his hot start this season, Ginn Racing teammate Joe Nemechek has quietly fared well in the early going, too. Nemechek finished 17th in Atlanta, and was one of those set up for a better finish if NASCAR hadn't called a caution for debris on the track with 15 laps remaining.

The 325-lap, 500-mile event at Atlanta Motor Speedway was looking like it was going to come down to a fuel-mileage contest, and Nemechek's No. 13 Ginn Resorts Chevrolet had enough gas to avoid making a late green-flag pit stop. Johnson, the eventual winner, supposedly was going to run out on either the last lap or the next-to-last lap -- and he wasn't alone among those running up front who were facing a similar dilemma.

"We had them on gas," Nemechek said afterward. "It's really disappointing that caution came out. We were successful at saving gas -- we had enough fuel to make it to the end while the majority of the cars in front of us didn't. We were looking at a top-five or better finish."

Crew chief Peter Sospenzo credited "Front Row Joe" for getting the team in the race in the first place. Nemechek had to go on what team public relations man David Ferroni termed "a second-lap banzai run" during the qualifying session to do so.

"If Joe hadn't made that incredible lap, we wouldn't be here talking about our finish," Sospenzo said after the race. "Considering how close we were to going home early, a 17th-place finish doesn't look that bad. Honestly, we needed to finish this race and earn some points. Hopefully after next week, we'll be one of the teams with an automatic qualifying berth."

Despite facing go-fast-or-go-home scenarios each of the first four races in qualifying, Nemechek is in solid position to get locked in as one of the top 35 in points after getting into the field in the first four and running well enough that he's now 19th in points, only 51 out of 10th.

Rocko fallout

Received way too many e-mails of the wrong nature regarding a feature I wrote last week on Dion "Rocko" Williams, the former Wake Forest college football standout who now works as the front-tire changer on Kyle Petty's No. 45 car.

Making a big hit

Former Wake Forest football player Rocko Williams admits he misses football. But he's loving his new career as a tire changer for Petty Enterprises.

• Complete story, click here

Seems several readers were somehow offended that I mentioned almost in passing that Williams was "African-American." Most thought there was no need, especially since a picture accompanied the story. That point I may concede, although I still don't see how also mentioning it in the story is offensive.

Let's face it: in NASCAR, the push for diversity still lags behind. Williams remains such a minority on pit road that his ethnic background was worth mentioning. The day may come where it's no longer necessary. (After all, when I was covering the NFL for nearly 12 years, I didn't mention that Mike Minter or Julius Peppers were African-Americans whenever I wrote about them; but that was because the locker rooms in the NFL are much more diverse than pit road is in NASCAR, thereby making it a non-issue). That day hasn't yet arrived at the track.

The good thing is that Williams is helping bring more former college athletes of diverse backgrounds into the sport through his efforts as a pit coach, and simply because he's appears to be the sort of positive personality that others feed off of.

Quite frankly, Rocko Williams had a good story to tell. That's why the piece was written about him.

Pit Stops

• Nextel Cup isn't the only series afflicted with skewed points standings at the moment. Jeff Burton has won the last two Busch Series races and is only ninth in the point standings -- but that's because he has entered only three of the five events to date.

• Of the top six drivers in the Busch Series, only two, Carl Edwards and Dave Blaney, have run all five events. Edwards, the overwhelming preseason favorite to win the championship, is currently first and Blaney is third.

• Blaney isn't faring nearly as well in the Cup Series, where he is 38th.

• With a pole, two wins and another top-five in the first three Craftsman Truck Series races, Mike Skinner is looking like he could run away and hide from the rest of the Truck guys this season.

• When the Car of Tomorrow is used this Sunday at Bristol, does it become the Car of Today? And won't it still be a COT?

• NASCAR is opening the Bristol garage a day early this week, at 10 a.m. ET Thursday, to aid the inspection process for the first Cup race to use the COT.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.