1. Joseph Frank Nemechek III was born on September 26,1963 and is an American professional stock car racing driver who last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No 24 Toyota Supra for Sam Hunt Racing.
63 Facts About Joe Nemechek
1. 2.
Joe Nemechek has made the second most national series starts in NASCAR history.
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Joe Nemechek claimed the record in 2019 after he passed seven-time Cup Series champion Richard Petty, but was surpassed by Kevin Harvick in 2021.
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Joe Nemechek is the older brother of racing driver John Nemechek.
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Joe Nemechek is the father of John Hunter Nemechek, who competes full-time in the Cup Series for Legacy Motor Club.
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Joe Nemechek is nicknamed "Front-Row Joe", which was coined by former teammate Wally Dallenbach for his tendency in the late 1990s to be a regular contender for a front-row starting position.
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Joe Nemechek began racing at the age of 13 in motocross and won 300 career races over the next six years.
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Joe Nemechek had 16 top-ten finishes and finished sixth in points the following year.
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In 1992, Joe Nemechek got full-time sponsorship from Texas Pete sauce, and got his first two career wins and defeated Bobby Labonte for the championship by three points.
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Joe Nemechek did not win again in 1993, but he won three poles and finished fifth in points.
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In 1994, Joe Nemechek joined Larry Hedrick Motorsports to drive the No 41 Meineke Discount Mufflers-sponsored Chevy.
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Joe Nemechek posted four Top 10's and finished a career-best 26th in points the following year.
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Joe Nemechek won two more poles at Martinsville and Talladega Superspeedway and finished 30th in points that year.
14.
For 2000, Joe Nemechek signed to drive the No 33 Oakwood Homes-sponsored Chevrolet for Andy Petree Racing, winning the pole at Talladega and finishing a career-best 15th in points.
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Joe Nemechek missed five races the following year after suffering an elbow injury at a test at Dover in 2001, then went on to win the Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 at North Carolina Speedway that November.
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However, Joe Nemechek went from one financial problem to another, as Kmart filed for bankruptcy early in the 2002 season and stopped sponsoring the Haas-Carter team.
17.
Joe Nemechek found an opportunity almost immediately, as Johnny Benson Jr.
18.
Joe Nemechek drove the remainder of the season for Hendrick and performed well enough to earn that ride full time the next season, including 2nd place runs at Atlanta and Homestead where in the latter of the two races mentioned, he led the most laps, he lost both races to Kurt Busch however.
19.
In 2003, Joe Nemechek started in the second spot, led the most laps, and won the Pontiac Excitement 400.
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Joe Nemechek would move to his 2004 team, the No 01 for MB2 Motorsports, early, as well.
21.
Joe Nemechek was again replacing Jerry Nadeau as the driver, although this time it was due to Nadeau suffering a severe injury that would eventually end his racing career.
22.
Joe Nemechek won the Busch Series race at Kansas the day before, making him the first driver to pull the Busch-Cup double win at the track.
23.
The victory by Joe Nemechek and MB2 at Kansas was a very emotional victory and Joe Nemechek would say in a post-race interview that it was the biggest win of his career.
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Later, Joe Nemechek got into a tussle with Harvick during The Nextel Challenge.
25.
Joe Nemechek got turned into Harvick by Tony Stewart and, because of their Daytona feud, Harvick took Joe Nemechek's role in the wreck personally, which ignited a heated post-race conversation that nearly came to blows.
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Joe Nemechek moved to Ginn's No 13 with a CertainTeed sponsorship after veteran Mark Martin and rookie Regan Smith were tapped to share the No 01 car.
27.
In July 2007, Joe Nemechek was released due to a lack of sponsorship for the No 13, which was shut down.
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Joe Nemechek spent the rest of the season driving for Furniture Row Racing, and signed a three-year contract with FRR to continue to drive in the No 78 and help expand the team.
29.
In October 2008, Joe Nemechek finished 11th at the Talladega race.
30.
The day after this announcement Joe Nemechek was released from his contract, and as a result, he was free to pursue other opportunities for 2009 and beyond.
31.
Shortly thereafter, Joe Nemechek announced that he would be bringing his NEMCO Motorsports team back to full competition in both of NASCAR's top series, Sprint Cup and Nationwide.
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Joe Nemechek ran most of the races for both series that season but occasionally had a younger fill in.
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Joe Nemechek's car had minor damage, and he was able to drive it back to pit road.
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Joe Nemechek raced in 30 Cup races during the 2009 season despite very little funding.
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Joe Nemechek finished just three events and did multiple "start and parks" where a driver starts the race, then parks to conserve parts, tires, etc.
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Joe Nemechek picked up sponsorship from England Stove Works but was involved in an accident on lap 64.
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Joe Nemechek would run the full distance, finishing 27th after suffering a blown tire.
38.
Joe Nemechek brought his No 87 cars back for 2011 to run both major NASCAR series.
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Joe Nemechek led laps in both races but was taken out in late accidents.
40.
Joe Nemechek collected Nationwide Series points for 2011 under NASCAR's policy that a driver may accumulate points for only one series, and finished 14th in the final standings.
41.
Joe Nemechek ran the No 87 in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series in 2012, with the Cup ride as a start-and-park to fund the Nationwide team.
42.
Joe Nemechek made his 600th career start at Michigan and finished 40th after starting 37th.
43.
Joe Nemechek's team became Identity Ventures Racing in 2014, and he drove several races in the No 66 car, which had a limited partnership with Michael Waltrip Racing.
44.
Joe Nemechek joined Randy Humphrey Racing for the Oral-B USA 500, qualifying 34th and finishing 37th.
45.
Joe Nemechek returned to RAB Racing's No 29 at the 2014 GEICO 500, and initially qualified 24th, putting him in the field for the race.
46.
Joe Nemechek's team announced that for the 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season that his team would be returning to Chevrolet after a three-year tenure with Toyota.
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Joe Nemechek returned to his own team in the Xfinity and Cup series, running a limited schedule with Chevrolets.
48.
Joe Nemechek began the season by failing to qualify for the Xfinity race at Daytona, and withdrawing from the Daytona 500.
49.
At the time, Ragan was driving for Joe Nemechek Gibbs Racing in place of the injured Kyle Busch.
50.
Joe Nemechek drove the No 34 car to a 33rd-place finish in what would be his only Cup Series start of the season.
51.
Joe Nemechek made two appearances in 2016, driving his own No 87 in both Xfinity races at Daytona.
52.
On January 20,2017, it was announced that Joe Nemechek would drive the No 87 truck in the first three races of the season.
53.
Joe Nemechek returned to Xfinity Series and drove the final two races of the season for JD Motorsports, beginning with a start and park at Phoenix in the No 15 and a full race at Homestead in the No 01, where he would finished 10th in Stage 1.
54.
In 2018, Joe Nemechek took over as a driver at NEMCO Motorsports after his son John Hunter moved up to the Xfinity Series with Chip Ganassi Racing.
55.
Joe Nemechek had been announced as one of the drivers of JD Motorsports' No 15 car, splitting the ride with other drivers.
56.
Joe Nemechek returned to Xfinity competition, driving the No 13 for MBM Motorsports, and the No 17 for Mike Harmon Racing.
57.
In September, Joe Nemechek raced in the Monster Energy Cup Series for the first time since 2015, returning to Premium Motorsports in their No 27 car for the Bojangles' Southern 500 as part of the annual throwback weekend.
58.
Joe Nemechek later drove at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the team in September and said that more races in 2019 or 2020 weren't out of the question.
59.
On November 15,2019, Joe Nemechek surpassed Richard Petty as the driver with the most starts in NASCAR's three national series, at 1,186.
60.
In 2020, Joe Nemechek returned to Mike Harmon Racing in the Xfinity Series, driving their renumbered No 47 car for the season opener at Daytona as well as at Las Vegas and Phoenix.
61.
Joe Nemechek was scheduled to drive a third part-time car for Mike Harmon in 2021, but NASCAR's lack of regular qualifying halted those plans.
62.
Joe Nemechek attempted the Truck Series opener at Daytona, but lacked speed and missed the field for the second year in a row.
63.
In 2022, Joe Nemechek returned to the Xfinity Series, driving the No 24 for Sam Hunt Racing, partnering with his son John Hunter, at the Wawa 250.