Joe Nemechek Wins Busch Race

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Posted 7:28PM on Saturday, May 31, 2003

DOVER, DELAWARE - Joe Nemechek took advantage of Matt Kenseth's late-race blunder Saturday and became the first driver in 17 years at Dover International Speedway to win a NASCAR Busch series race from the pole. Winston Cup points leader Kenseth dominated the race, but missed a shift on a restart on the 155th lap of the MBNA 200. He was hit by Brian Vickers and tried to finish with rear bumper askew and left rear fender bent upward. But Kenseth spun out on lap 179, giving fast-closing fellow Cup racer Nemechek the lead. "That last run, I caught Matt and started to work him over," Nemechek said. "He broke loose and got sideways. "I said, `Whoa.' It was almost like Christmas." Nemechek's task was made easier when the cars restarted the crash-filled race in single file twice in the final 10 laps on The Monster Mile. The last came after Martin Truex Jr. spun, and the event was red-flagged. But Scott Riggs was unable to close the gap in the final three laps under green, and his Ford finished nearly a half-second behind Nemechek's Chevrolet. Nemechek knew what Riggs was up against. "If you get behind somebody, they're going to take away your line," Nemechek said. "My car worked good and we could pull away." Kenseth led 160 laps, easily outracing any challenger as he attempted to win for the third time on the high-banked concrete oval. "We had a great car, but I just didn't do a very good job," he said. "I just missed a shift. It happened to me a couple of times this weekend." After Kenseth's blunder, NASCAR suggested to his crew that the car be brought in for examination, but they declined and he continued. He made a great save when he spun leaving the second turn and wound up fourth, but was disappointed. "The car was loose, and I should have known better," Kenseth said. Nemechek certainly noticed as he steadily closed the gap before the mishap. He also had to manhandle an unstable car. "His car looked like mine felt at the beginning of the race," Nemechek said. It was the 15th career Busch win and third this year for Nemechek, who hours earlier crashed his Cup car in practice. He will use a backup car and move to the rear of the field Sunday in MBNA 400. Nemechek, the 1992 Busch champion, averaged 104.651 mph in a race slowed seven times by 36 laps of caution. He lost the lead to Kenseth after the first lap and wound up leading 30 in all. There were 10 lead changes among five drivers. Vickers finished fifth, followed by Bobby Hamilton Jr. and points leader Todd Bodine. Kasey Kahne, Mike Bliss and Ron Hornaday completed the top 10. Morgan Shepherd, the only other polesitter to win a Busch race from the pole here, wound up 38th. Bodine leads Riggs by 76 points in the standings.