If things continue heading in their current direction, Joe Nemechek may be forced to change his nickname from "Front Row Joe" to "Victory Lane Joe."

Fresh off a Busch Series win and a ninth-place run in the Winston Cup event last weekend in Las Vegas, Nemechek finds himself focused on taking the checkered flag in Sunday's Bass Pro Shops/MBNA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

	Joe Nemechek has always run well at Atlanta.

The last time Nemechek tackled the challenging 1½-mile high-banked AMS layout last October, he not only wound up leading 55 of 248 laps, he and the No. 25 Chevrolet came up short of winning by just one position, finishing second to Kurt Busch.

Nemechek earned his "Front Row" moniker due to his success in qualifying. Yet at Atlanta last fall, he started 36th and began picking off drivers quickly, taking the lead for the first of three times on lap 35.

Doing that wasn't easy then, and it certainly won't be any easier Sunday. Atlanta is the fastest non-restrictor-plate track on the circuit, and with the 24-degree banking, the aero push and drafting combine to give a type of slingshot effect for drivers as they navigate the layout.

"Atlanta is a pretty tough race track," Nemechek said. "It's real fast, you have to have a pretty good motor and a good handling race car. There's good grooves so you can race side by side. But there's just so many guys that run good down there that if you miss your setup just a little bit, you can go from the front to the back real quick, or you can even end up a lap down. So, you've got to be on top of all the changes you make all day long."

Ironically, Atlanta is also the place where Jerry Nadeau, who occupied the driver's seat of the No. 25 for over two seasons prior to Nemechek, won his first and only event in the 2000 season finale.

Nemechek's top-10 finish at Las Vegas helped him vault eight spots in the standings to 12th. The next target in his sights is to win -- and win often -- in 2003.

That's quite a contrast to the way last season began for Nemechek. He had just signed a two-year contract with team co-owners Travis Carter and Carl Haas and was preparing for the Daytona 500 when the rug was pulled out from under the operation when Kmart filed for bankruptcy and immediately withdrew its funding.

"All of a sudden, no one knew if they were going to have a job or not," Nemechek said. "I mean, it was really crazy. Heck, we hadn't even got to the first race yet and it was like we might be shutting the doors. It was not fun. I know there's a lot of normal folks and fans out there that have gone through this. Anytime people are laid-off or (workplaces) are shut down, it's tough."

Nemechek stuck around and managed to start eight of the season's first 11 races in the No. 26 Ford for the unsponsored team. When Hendrick Motorsports released Nadeau after the 11th race, team owner Rick Hendrick chose Nemechek to be Nadeau's replacement. In a split-second, Nemechek went from a team that didn't know how many more races it would be able to run to one of the biggest organizations in all of racing.

Not only that, Nemechek suddenly found himself paired with teammates who have earned six Winston Cup championships between them: Jeff Gordon (four crowns) and Terry Labonte (two).

"It's a good relationship and we all talk a lot," Nemechek said. "There's a lot of communication, guys are sharing all the information they have, and if someone stumbles on to something, it seems to help everybody. That's a real good to have happening in a multi-car team."

Not to mention the job security he has, as compared to a year ago at this time.

"It definitely feels good," Nemechek said. "I know (sponsors) UAW and Delphi sure aren't going anywhere, and Rick Hendrick promised me a good year and we're going to have the funding to do what we need to do. So far, everything's been going good. We stepped our team up, we got our pit stops a lot better and we've got some excellent guys on our crew. If we just get a little bit of a break, we're going to win some races here."

Besides cutting a path to Victory Lane several times this season, Nemechek has another lofty goal: to finish the year in the top-10 in the standings. Up to now, his best overall finish was in 2000, when he wound up 15th for team owner Andy Petree.

"We want to be in the top-10 in points, and I think the team is definitely capable of doing that," Nemechek said. "We have to have a little bit of luck, we have to do our job in the pits and getting the car set up, and then I have to do my job on the racetrack to try and get that car in the top-10 every week. If we can do that every week, we're going to be tough."

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com.