Nemechek

There's no question he's got the talent. If only Joe Nemechek had the kind of team and resources to take advantage of and fully bring out that talent, he'd really make some noise in Winston Cup.

That's been one of the primary knocks against Nemechek during his Winston Cup career. He's driven for either himself or other teams, usually in underfunded situations that made him incapable of competing with the better financed big boys of Cup.

But look what's happened. He's now in his first full season of driving for Rick Hendrick, one of the best owners in the business; he's got former Winston Cup champs Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte, as well as one of the best young drivers in the game today, Jimmie Johnson, as his teammates. He's also got big dollar sponsorship from UAW-Delphi plastered all over his No. 25 Chevrolet.

Well, lo and behold, Nemechek has gone out and proven that knock against him right: he's having the best season of his career thus far, and sitting in 11th-place, is knocking on the door of that elite top-10 club in the Winston Cup standings heading into Sunday's MBNA Armed Forces Family 400 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.

"Believe me, this is the best opportunity I've ever had to win races," said Nemechek. "The facility, the people and the vision that Rick Hendrick has put together is phenomenal. When I first went to work there, I told myself, 'How in the world did you ever compete against these guys?' Now that I'm there, I've won a race, we're getting more competitive on a weekly basis, getting more consistency. I think we can win a lot of races. Hopefully, I'll be there for the rest of my career."

He's particularly hit his stride in the last two races, starting on the outside pole and then going on to earn his third career Cup victory at Richmond (Va.), and adding an 11th-place finish in last Sunday's rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in suburban Charlotte. In just those two races, Nemechek has climbed nine spots in the standings and could jump up even more with a strong finish Sunday at Dover. Sandwiched in-between was a fourth-place finish in The Winston, the non-points all-star event.

"We wanted to have a better finish at Charlotte, but we overcame some obstacles there," Nemechek said. "After having such a great run in The Winston, we just missed it a little bit in the 600. We recovered to have an 11th-place finish and that takes us to 11th in the points, so we're heading in the right direction.

"When you're around the shop all the time and when you see your guys, when you see what happens when you win a race, they are very motivated to do well. You see them putting that little bit extra into things."

A strong finish Sunday would only add to the hot streak Nemechek has been riding of late. However, like the win at Richmond, it won't be easy attacking Dover's high banking or its infamous Monster Mile layout.

	Nemechek will start 37th at Dover on Sunday.

"It's tough because physically you're in the banking all the time," said Nemechek, who also has two other top-10 finishes this season (ninth-place at both Las Vegas and Atlanta). "The place has a lot of banking, a lot of grip. If you hit something there, you usually hit pretty darn hard. You're trying to be smart about how you race. Normally, the wrecks that happen there, when one guy hits, it usually takes out a few more. It's very easy to get in trouble."

Nemechek's penchant for being a strong qualifier -- he's not called "Front Row Joe" for nothing -- has been particularly strong of late. Along with sitting on the outside front row at Richmond, he's started five of the last six races in the top nine.

Nemechek came to the Hendrick stable about one-third of the way through the 2002 season, replacing Jerry Nadeau, who struggled for much of his time behind the wheel of the No. 25 Chevy. Nemechek, meanwhile, was having his own struggles, joining Haas Carter Motorsports at the start of 2002, only to see his new ride suddenly disappear when primary sponsor Kmart filed for bankruptcy and pulled its financial backing of both Nemechek's and teammate Todd Bodine's cars.

When Hendrick called, there's no question Nemechek needed a job badly. But he readily admits there was a bit of hesitation at first because of the No. 25's reputation as a perpetually losing car.

"When I first jumped in that car, I thought it had taboo written all over it," he said. "But, once we got the right people in the right places -- we got (crew chief) Peter Sospenzo on board, and he made a lot of changes around the shop -- boom, all of a sudden we started running well."

It's also been the success of his teammates rubbing off on him: Hendrick Motorsports has won three of the last four Cup races, and four of the last five if you include Johnson's triumph at The Winston.

And that kind of performance has been especially satisfying to Nemechek. For a guy who has only finished in the top-20 in the final season standings just once in his career (15th in 2000 for Andy Petree Racing), Nemechek could very easily find himself with a strong top-10 finish by the end of this season.

"The way the team has struggled in the past few years, it's very special," he said. "I know it meant a lot to Rick to see that team (the No. 25 car) run well. As far as the other drivers, we have a great group in there. With Jimmie winning both races at Charlotte, that was really big for (us). Hendrick Motorsports (winning) four of the last five is pretty incredible.

"I heard Rick on TV the other night saying he was so proud of the teams being able to work together. That's a big part of it. This year, and even last year, it's pretty incredible when you come into an organization and the crew chiefs talk, all the engineers talk and there's no secrets. That's the key. The drivers get along with each other, and it's cool, because whenever anybody wins a race, the other drivers are coming to victory lane. I know they all came when I was there, and I go see Jimmie and Jeff and Terry. It means a lot."

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at Motorsportwriter@Yahoo.com.