Joe Nemechek
Nemechek atDarlington Raceway in 2019
Born	Joseph Frank Nemechek III (1963-09-26)September 26, 1963 (age 62) Lakeland, Florida, U.S.
Achievements	1989 All PRO Super Series Champion 1992 NASCAR Busch Series Champion
Awards	1988USAR Rookie of the Year 1990 Busch SeriesRookie of the Year 1992, 1993 Busch Series Most Popular Driver
NASCARCup Series career
674 races run over 24 years
2019 position	57th
Best finish	15th (2000)
First race	1993Slick 50 300 (New Hampshire)
Last race	2019Ford EcoBoost 400 (Homestead)
First win	1999Dura Lube/Kmart 300 (New Hampshire)
Last win	2004Banquet 400 (Kansas)
Wins Top tens Poles 4 62 10
NASCARO'Reilly Auto Parts Series career
453 races run over 29 years
2020 position	82nd
Best finish	1st (1992)
First race	1989AC-Delco 500 (Rockingham)
Last race	2020Ag-Pro 300 (Talladega)
First win	1992Kroger 200 (IRP)
Last win	2004Mr. Goodcents 300 (Kansas)
Wins Top tens Poles 16 126 18
NASCARCraftsman Truck Series career
70 races run over 10 years
2021 position	119th
Best finish	19th (2014)
First race	1996Parts America 150 (Watkins Glen)
Last race	2020Chevrolet Silverado 250 (Talladega)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 19 0
Statistics up to date as of December 31, 2021.

Joseph Frank Nemechek III (born September 26, 1963) is an American professionalstock car racing driver who last competed part-time in theNASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 24Toyota Supra forSam Hunt Racing. Nemechek has made the second most national series starts in NASCAR history. He claimed the record in 2019 after he passed seven-time Cup Series championRichard Petty, but was surpassed byKevin Harvick in 2021.^[1] Nemechek won the1992 NASCAR Busch Series championship.

He is the older brother of racing driverJohn Nemechek. He is the father ofJohn Hunter Nemechek, who competes full-time in the Cup Series forLegacy Motor Club. He is nicknamed "Front-Row Joe", which was coined by former teammateWally Dallenbach for his tendency in the late 1990s to be a regular contender for a front-row starting position.^[2]

Nemechek began racing at the age of thirteen inmotocross and won 300 career races over the next six years. After winning various awards in different short-track series around the country, Nemechek made his Busch Series debut atNorth Carolina Speedway in 1989, where he started 40th and finished 33rd after suffering an engine failure in his No. 88Buick.

Nemechek moved up to the Busch Series in 1990, running the No. 87 with sponsorship from Master Machine & Tool, posting two top-fives and finishing seventeenth in points, winning Rookie of the Year honors. He had sixteen top-ten finishes and finished sixth in points the following year. In 1992, Nemechek got full-time sponsorship fromTexas Pete sauce, and got his first two career wins and defeatedBobby Labonte for the championship by three points. He did not win again in 1993, but he won three poles and finished fifth in points. That season, he made his Winston Cup debut atNew Hampshire International Speedway for his NEMCO team, starting fifteenth before finishing 36th after sufferingrocker arm failure. After running two more races in the 87, he ran a pair of races forMorgan-McClure Motorsports, his best finish being a 23rd place showing at Rockingham.

In 1994, Nemechek joinedLarry Hedrick Motorsports to drive the No. 41Meineke Discount MufflersChevy. Despite missing two races, he had three top-ten finishes and finished 27th in the points standings. The next season, he moved his No. 87 team up to the Cup Series with sponsorship fromBurger King, posted a fourth place finish at theMBNA 500 and finished 28th in points. After he dropped to 34th in points, he abandoned his Cup Series team and signed to drive the No. 42Bellsouth car forSABCO Racing. After losing his brother John in an accident atHomestead-Miami Speedway early in the year, Nemechek won the first two pole positions of his career, atCalifornia Speedway^[3] andPocono Raceway, respectively. He posted four top-tens and finished a career-best 26th in points the following year. Midway through 1999, he announced he would not return to the No. 42 team the following season when he picked up his first career victory atLoudon. He won two more poles atMartinsville andTalladega Superspeedway and finished thirtieth in points that year.

For 2000, Nemechek signed to drive the No. 33Oakwood Homes Chevrolet forAndy Petree Racing, winning the pole at Talladega and finishing a career-best 15th in points. He missed five races the following year after suffering an elbow injury at a test at Dover in 2001, then went on to win thePop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 atNorth Carolina Speedway that November.

After Petree's team began to run into financial problems, Nemechek's team was left without a sponsor and he left forHaas-Carter Motorsports to take over the No. 26KmartFord Taurus thatJimmy Spencer had left forChip Ganassi Racing. However, Nemechek went from one financial problem to another, asKmart filed forbankruptcy early in the 2002 season and stopped sponsoring the Haas-Carter team. This forced Haas-Carter to scale back its operations to one team, and Nemechek was released in favor of keepingTodd Bodine, who was driving the team's other car. Nemechek found an opportunity almost immediately, asJohnny Benson Jr., who was the driver of the No. 10Valvoline Pontiac forMBV Motorsports, was injured in a crash the previous race and required a substitute. After driving one race in Benson's car atRichmond, Nemechek was hired byHendrick Motorsports to replaceJerry Nadeau in the No. 25UAW-Delphi Chevrolet. 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 atAtlanta andHomestead where in the latter of the two races mentioned, he led the most laps, he lost both races toKurt Busch however.

In 2003, Nemechek started in the second spot, led the most laps, and won thePontiac Excitement 400. The race was rain-shortened with seven laps left, and just three minutes under a red flag, NASCAR called the race official. Nemechek, in an indoor victory lane, dedicated his win to Nadeau, who previously suffered a massive crash during a practice run at Richmond, which would end up ending Nadeau's career in motorsports. After the big win, Nemechek posted five other top-ten finishes but finished 25th in points. It wasn't enough for Nemechek to keep his job at Hendrick, and was announced to be released from his contract at the end of the season in favor of their Busch Series driver,Brian Vickers. The team later ended up releasing Nemechek early to prepare for Vickers' start in the No. 25 in 2004. Nemechek would move to his 2004 team, the No. 01 for MB2 Motorsports, early, as well.

For the2004 season, Nemechek returned to MB2 Motorsports, taking over the No. 01U.S. Army car. He was again replacingJerry Nadeau as the driver, although this time it was due to Nadeau suffering a severe injury that would eventually end his racing career. He won two poles late in the season. In October, Nemechek won atKansas Speedway, beating outRicky Rudd at the finish line. Nemechek also 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. The victory by Nemechek and MB2 at Kansas was a very emotional victory and Nemechek would say in a post-race interview that it was the biggest win of his career.

In2005, Nemechek won the pole atMichigan. The season was highlighted by a feud withKevin Harvick. After Harvick caused a multi-car crash involving Nemechek during practice for the2005 Daytona 500, Nemechek andJimmie Johnson were outspoken about their displeasure with Harvick. Later, Nemechek got into a tussle with Harvick during The Nextel Challenge. Nemechek got turned into Harvick byTony Stewart and, because of their Daytona feud, Harvick took Nemechek's role in the wreck personally, which ignited a heated post-race conversation that nearly came to blows. Nemechek remarked post-race that, "Kevin thinks he owns this world, and he ain't squat." NASCAR would issue no penalties to either drivers.^{[citation needed]}

At the end of the season, Nemechek fell seven points short of matching his career-best points finish.

MB2 was rebranded asGinn Racing followingBobby Ginn's purchase of the team in 2006. He moved to Ginn's No. 13 with aCertainTeed sponsorship after veteranMark Martin and rookieRegan Smith were tapped to share the No. 01 car. In July 2007, Nemechek was released due to a lack of sponsorship for the No. 13, which was subsequently shut down.^[4]

He signed withE&M Motorsports, and although he failed his first attempt to qualify, at Indy, he made his way into the field for the Michigan race weekend driving the No. 08 Fans On Board Dodge. He spent the rest of the season driving forFurniture Row Racing, and signed a three-year contract with FRR to continue to drive in the No. 78 and help expand the team. In April 2008, at Talladega, Nemechek grabbed his 10th career pole driving the No. 78 National Day of Prayer/Furniture Row-sponsored car. It marked Furniture Row Racing's first-ever pole. In October 2008, Nemechek finished eleventh at the Talladega race. In November 2008, Furniture Row Racing announced that they were planning on running a limited schedule in 2009 or perhaps not at all in light of the economic situation. The day after this announcement Nemechek was released from his contract, and as a result, he was free to pursue other opportunities for 2009 and beyond.

Shortly thereafter, 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. He would race the No. 87 Chevy in Nationwide and the No. 87 Camry in Cup. Nemechek ran most of the races for both series that season but occasionally had a younger fill in. In thePepsi 300 atNashville Superspeedway, Nemechek flipped after contact with several other cars. His car had minor damage, and he was able to drive it back to pit road.

Nemechek raced in 30 Cup races during the 2009 season despite very little funding. He finished just three events and did multiple "start and parks" where a driver starts the race, then parks to conserve parts, tires, etc. and to collect the prize money. On two occasions, he gave up his ride to Scott Speed after his fully funded team failed to qualify for Darlington and Sonoma. He qualified for the2010 Daytona 500 after missing the race the year before. Nemechek picked up sponsorship from England Stove Works but was involved in an accident on lap 64. Nemechek would go on to compete in thirty more Cup races, with most being "start and parks." That season was highlighted by the2010 AMP Energy Juice 500, Nemechek led the first lap after starting fourth. He would run the full distance, finishing 27th after suffering a blown tire.

Nemechek brought his No. 87 cars back for 2011 to once again run both major NASCAR series. Nemechek successfully qualified for the Daytona 500 for the second year in a row but was once again involved in an early incident, thus failing to finish again. On June 9 atTexas Motor Speedway, along withJeff Burton he made his 900thNASCAR start in all top three series. In the Nationwide Series, Nemechek scored his first top five since 2005 with a third place finish at theAaron's 312 after being in the position to win with two laps to go. In July, Nemechek picked up sponsorship from Extenze and AM FM Energy to run the full race in both series atDaytona International Speedway. He led laps in both races but was taken out in late accidents. 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. He 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. Nemechek made his six-hundredth career start at Michigan and finished 40th after starting 37th.^[5] Nemechek finished 11th in the 2012 Nationwide Series points.

Nemechek's team becameIdentity Ventures Racing in 2014, and he drove several races in the No. 66 car, which had a limited partnership withMichael Waltrip Racing.^[6]

In April 2014, Nemechek announced that he would be driving the No. 86Deware Racing GroupChevrolet Camaro with sponsorship fromBubba Burger. In the 2014 Aaron's 312, Nemechek was running towards the front during the entire race. With three laps remaining, Nemechek was running in the top-ten and finished sixth, his 126th top-ten in the Nationwide Series. For theCoke Zero 400, Nemechek entered with the No. 29RAB RacingToyota with sponsorship from ToyotaCare, but failed to qualify. Nemechek joinedRandy Humphrey Racing for theOral-B USA 500, qualifying 34th and finishing 37th.^[7] He returned to RAB Racing's No. 29 at the2014 GEICO 500, and initially qualified 24th, putting him in the field for the race. However, his car failed post-race inspection for an improperly sealed oil tank encasement, and he failed to qualify. This became the first season in Nemechek's Cup Series career where he did not race in any of the superspeedway races.

Nemechek's team announced that for the2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season that his team would be returning toChevrolet after a three-year tenure with Toyota. Nemechek returned to his own team in the Xfinity and Cup series, running a limited schedule with Chevrolets. Nemechek began the season by failing to qualify for the Xfinity race at Daytona, and withdrawing from theDaytona 500.

The following week at Atlanta, he was announced as the substitute forDavid Ragan in the No. 34 CSX Ford forFront Row Motorsports. At the time, Ragan was driving forJoe Gibbs Racing in place of the injuredKyle Busch.^[8] Nemechek drove the No. 34 car to a 33rd-place finish in what would be his only Cup Series start of the season.

Nemechek made two appearances in 2016, driving his own No. 87 in both Xfinity races at Daytona. Nemechek finished eighteenth in February and 36th in July after being caught in an early crash while he was running in the top-ten.

On January 20, 2017, it was announced that Nemechek would drive the No. 87 truck in the first three races of the season.^[9] Nemechek would finish fifth in the season opening race. The next week he would finish 24th at Atlanta. Beginning at Gateway after a four race break, Nemechekstart and parked the No. 87 until the end of the season, skipping only Eldora and Martinsville where he gave up the ride forTy Dillon, who brought sponsorship to run the full race. Nemechek's son,John Hunter, would win two consecutive Truck Series races at Gateway and Iowa. Nemechek returned to Xfinity Series and drove the final two races of the season forJD Motorsports, beginning with a start and park at Phoenix in the No. 15 and a full race at Homestead in the No. 01 (ironically his old number in the Cup Series from 2003 to 2006), where he would finished tenth in Stage 1.

In 2018, Nemechek took over as a driver atNEMCO Motorsports after his sonJohn Hunter moved up to theXfinity Series withChip Ganassi Racing.^[10] He had also been announced as one of the drivers ofJD Motorsports' No. 15 car, splitting the ride with other drivers.^[11] It was announced thatMatt Mills would drive the 15 full time.^[12] Nemechek ran thePowerShares QQQ 300 in the 15, and later returned to the car for theFitzgerald Glider Kits 300.^[13]

Nemechek would once again run primarily in the Truck Series for 2019, splitting time between the No. 8 and 87, sharing the trucks with multiple drivers. Nemechek also returned to Xfinity competition, driving the No. 13 forMBM Motorsports, and the No. 17 forMike Harmon Racing. In September, Nemechek raced in theMonster Energy Cup Series for the first time since 2015, returning toPremium Motorsports (formerly Identity Ventures) in their No. 27 car for theBojangles' Southern 500 as part of the annual throwback weekend.^[14] Nemechek later drove atLas Vegas Motor Speedway for the team in September and said that more races in 2019 or 2020 weren't out of the question.^[15] Nemechek and his sonJohn Hunter made motorsports history atISM Raceway in early November 2019 by being the first father-son duo to race in all three main series in one weekend.^[16] On November 15, 2019, Nemechek surpassedRichard Petty as the driver with the most starts in NASCAR's three national series, at 1,186.^[1]

In 2020, Nemechek returned to Mike Harmon Racing in the Xfinity Series, driving their renumbered No. 47 car for the season opener at Daytona^[17] as well as at Las Vegas and Phoenix. 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. Nemechek attempted the Truck Series opener at Daytona, but lacked speed and missed the field for the second year in a row.

In 2022, Nemechek returned to the Xfinity Series, driving the No. 24 forSam Hunt Racing, partnering with his son John Hunter, at theWawa 250. However, he failed to qualify for the race after rain cancelled qualifying.^[18]

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)