Nemechek Finds the Front Again

Joe Nemechek lived up to his reputation as “Front Row Joe” on Friday when he won the pole for today’s Hershey’s Take 5 300 Busch series race.

When he lapped the 2 1/2 -mile tri-oval at 182.452 mph in his family-owned Cellular One Chevrolet, it was the veteran’s 18th pole of his Busch career and his fourth at Daytona.

“The car is very, very good,” the 41-year-old from Lakeland, Fla., warned his rivals. “We qualified it in race trim. The wind was playing tricks on me today. It was hard to tell how fast we were going because it seemed some guys slowed down and other guys picked up.”

He has two wins here, his first coming in 1998 when he started second and another in 2000 when he won from the pole. He also won the series title in 1992.

Nemechek is one of 14 Nextel Cup drivers taking advantage of getting more track time before Sunday’s Daytona 500. Kyle Busch, a Nextel rookie and younger brother of Cup champion Kurt Busch, will start alongside Nemechek in another Chevrolet.

Busch, who won’t be 20 until May 2, had a 182.216 speed.

Others who will double up in the Busch and Nextel race include Kevin Harvick, Greg Biffle, Tony Stewart, Michael Waltrip, Kasey Kahne, Sterling Marlin, Martin Truex Jr., Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards, Kenny Wallace, Mike Wallace and Jeremy Mayfield.

Robby Gordon, whose bid for a 500 berth fell short Thursday, qualified 21st for today’s race.

Former open-wheel standout Michel Jourdain, making his first start in a NASCAR race of any kind, qualified at 179.040 mph. He joined the PPC Racing team after racing nine years in the Champ Car series where he won three races and finished third in points in 2003.

“It’s not going 200 mph like Champ Cars run at Fontana or Michigan, but it’s plenty fast,” Jourdain said. “The mentality is the same. You want to scrub the least amount of speed and make the lap as short as possible.”

Jourdain joined the Busch series after NASCAR announced that it was holding a Busch race March 6 in Mexico City.

“Mexico is the third race in a couple of weeks,” he said, “so there is a lot of focus on that race from everybody. In a way I’m representing that race right now and there is a lot of media from Mexico here and a lot of focus on me.”