Nemechek Brings Home Top-Three Finish South Alabama Debut
Third in Pro Late Model Baby Rattler 125; Rain Postpones SSS Rattler 250
John Hunter Nemechek and the NEMCO Motorsports No. 8 team made their first trip to South Alabama Speedway over the weekend for the Pro Late Model Baby Rattler 125 on Saturday night and the Southern Super Series Rattler 250 on Sunday afternoon.
“It was my first time at South Alabama Speedway,” said Nemechek. “It was a lot of fun. It was a mixture between Cordele (Watermelon Capital Speedway, GA) and Mobile (International Speedway, AL), my two favorite places that we run in a late model. And I have a win at one and a championship at the other, so those two combined to make one racetrack was definitely going to benefit us, I think, in the long run.”
Unfortunately Sunday’s 250-lap main event was postponed due to weather, but Saturday’s Baby Rattler 125 went off with only a minor rain delay.
“Both of our cars were fast,” said Nemechek. “We didn’t qualify like we wanted to, we ended up qualifying the pro car in the rain and the super right after it started misting. So it was definitely flipped and the guys that went out early in both divisions were the ones that went fast.”
After starting eighth in the 125-lap Pro Late Model event, it took Nemechek only 14 laps to put his No. 8 Chevy at the front of the field.
“In the Pro race we started eighth and we went to the front in a hurry,” said Nemechek. “By lap 14 we were leading and I learned some stuff in that race that’s going to transfer over to the Super race. That’s why I like running the Pro car - it’s fun but you can also learn what you need to do for the Super race."
With the threat of more weather in the area, teams were contemplating race strategy at a track that typically sees the winner make a late race charge in the closing laps.
“We knew that rain was coming,” said Nemechek. “And so did the No. 66 of Korey Ruble. We ran each other as hard as we could there in the middle of the race. And because we kept having so many cautions, you had to go hard after the restarts just to try and maintain where you were. I think we ended up running 200 and something laps total.
“It was definitely going to be an interesting race to the finish and it was,” said Nemechek. “He passed me late in the going and I used my stuff up trying to get back to him there with 20 laps to go and I just overheated the right front and killed the right front tire. We got too tight and Bubba (Pollard) saved a little bit more than both of us. He ended up winning the race with better tires than we did and he could go a little bit better.”
Nemechek will return to the Kinston, Alabama .4-mile track this Saturday, March 22, for the make-up of the Southern Super Series Rattler 250.
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Nemechek Brings Home Top-Three Finish South Alabama Debut
