Joe Nemechek Quotes (58 Quotes)

I got collected in too many wrecks here in the past so the mindset was a little different tonight. The Army Chevy was competitive, but we were stuck in the back for most of the race. I just had to be patient and use my head about what I did. I wanted to avoid the wrecks and take care of the equipment so I would have something at the end.

We haven't hit full stride and it's time to get into gear. Everyone is working closely together to get us on the right path. We've run well at Phoenix in the past and I have a good feeling about this weekend.

We need to put it together and get on a streak. But whatever happens you can be assured that we will follow the soldiers' creed of never giving up.

Everything was right today. We got behind early, but the Army Chevy was so good that we were able to fight our way back to the front. We were looking for a better finish, but considering all of the bad luck we've had recently it feels good to come away with a top-10 result.

The experience factor is big this year. If we all can get hooked up, we're going to be tough. And if we get hooked up at the right time, we're going to be hard to beat.

What's frustrating is that we had a good car, but never had the opportunity to be a challenger.

That was an excellent and I thought we had it figured out, but the tightness kept on coming back. Outside of that run, we struggled for track position.

We had the Army fight today. No one quit -- we were excellent soldiers. The pit crew was awesome again. It was just too bad we didn't get the result that we deserved. It was a great effort by everybody.

I really feel we're going to be good in California again. The car we're bringing is the same one we tested in Last Vegas earlier in the month. We had a good test session and we'll be ready for anything come Sunday, even a trip to Victory Lane. We're overdue.

NASCAR is just trying to do whatever they can to keep the series under control,

Trouble seems to find us.

We were not only aerodynamically handicapped from that point, we also lost the draft and there were 199 laps remaining. You talk about your worst nightmare -- that was it.

Ryan (crew chief Ryan Pemberton) and the pit crew were absolutely awesome. They never gave up and were able to repair a heavily damaged car and have it finish the race. I was very impressed and very proud of each and every one of the guys. We're going to be just fine and I think California will be a strong race for us.

That was a good call by Ryan. And overall, it wasn't a bad result today. We had two bad-luck runs coming into this race and needed to get some points, which we did. Again, the Army Chevy was strong, it responded to changes and right now everything is looking really good for our team.

I hope this is a turn for our luck for the season. We're looking forward to good things.

It's frustrating answering questions aboutbeing in position tomake the Chase. The waythe Army team has run this year, we shouldn't even be talking about this because we should be locked into the Chase right now.

Considering what we went through tonight, we'll take the top 10 and head to Richmond. We've had pretty good results in the last four races. We need to build on that momentum for the season's homestretch.

Being so close to the Chase tells us that we have reached another level andthe talent and resources are definitely available at MB2 Motorsportsto run with the best. I keep on saying -- just give us the finishes we deserved in California in February and Atlanta (in March) and we would be sitting comfortably in the Chase.

I am part of a very talented team and that's why I go into every race feeling that this could be the weekend that we will pull out a win. Trouble seems to find us. But if we can have a clean race in Texas, I am confident the Army Chevy will be part of the lead pack of cars.

Before that incident, we still had some hope of getting the Army car fixed and back in the hunt. But when I made contact with Green's out-of-control car, I thought we were done for the day and ready to load the car into the hauler. We had significant damage.

It's not the ideal situation when you can't use the best stuff you bring to the track. We just never found a comfort zone with the backup Army Chevrolet.

Not much to say except the Army Chevy was a little loose and I lost it after trying real hard to pass the No. 11 car (Denny Hamlin). Fortunately our car didn't suffer any damage, but the incident did drop us to the rear of the field.

Since joining the Army team I've flirted with glory in California a couple of times, but wasn't able to complete the job. I think it's time to change all of that.

Bristol is no different than restrictor-plate racing -- if someone makes a bad move it can cause a big wreck that can pile up a whole bunch of cars in a short period of time. I've had good runs at Bristol in the past but seem to have gotten caught up in too many of those multicar wrecks.

The Army car was good all day. We were in good position to make a move at the end. But some of the guys were driving stupid by brake checking and doing everything they could do to cause a wreck.

I thought we had an easy top-10 car, but once we got behind we had to pass a lot of cars and that's difficult to do here. But we did manage to recover and I am proud about that.

I feel like a heavyweight fighter who got knocked out and is anxious to get on with the rematch. Actually, it was more of a TKO for us at California Speedway. We had victory in sight, but in an instant we went from domination to being stunned in the garage with a broken motor.

I think a tire was going down on Hamlin's car, ... He slammed on the brakes and I ran into him hard and smashed in my grille pretty good. That made the car real tight for the rest of the race.

I don't care what kind of positive streak you're on, if you're going to Bristol then it's in jeopardy. Bristol is not a give-and-take track, it usually does more taking.

I think it gets back to being in the right place at the right time and getting the right break.

My team is definitely capable of being in the Chase. Any Nextel Cup race you can win is big. It's the most competitive thing I've done.

The Army car was at its best when that caution came out. Everything was falling into place for another late-race charge. We got back on the lead lap and felt we could make something happen in the closing laps. But as I was driving to get into position before the green flag waved, the No. 77 car swerved and killed the front-end of my car. That's what happens when people aren't paying attention.

That's almost 100,000 more -- I like that kind of inflation.

I didn't have any warning, it (the engine) just let go. It was very unfortunate because the Army Chevy was stout.

As I keep on saying we're like our soldiers -- we will never allow adversity to get us down -- we keep on coming back. We know we're a front-running team and this could be the lift we needed to get us on a positive streak.

Not a great finish but an outstanding effort. We struggled in practice yesterday and I had concern. But Ryan (crew chief Ryan Pemberton) and the crew put a whole new setup in the car for the start of the race and let me tell you -- the Army Chevy was bad to the bone. One of the best cars I have ever driven. It was just incredible, I mean incredible on how good the car drove.

It's definitely a long shot. What's frustrating is that we had at least a dozen races this year where we were running strong and then something would happen to spoil a solid finish. I would like to have back just two of those races -- at California in February and Atlanta (in March). Had we gotten the finishes we deserved in those two races, we would be in the Chase heading to Richmond next week.

Hopefully that luck cycle is starting to turn in our favor.

We had the right package today. But not having a shot at the victory after starting from the pole and leading a number of laps is disappointing. I thought this was the race we were going to win for our soldiers, who are protecting our freedom here and abroad. We'll get that victory for our troops and I have a gut feeling it's going to happen soon. But for now, we'll take the eighth-place result and go on to the next race.

I had a great week -- a very inspiring one. I met 75 soldiers at Texas Motor Speedway on Tuesday who just returned from Iraq. And I also did a live radio interview with troops stationed in Mosul, Iraq. Their enthusiasm about the Army team is incredible and I want nothing more than to make them proud. We made a comeback tonight, but the soldiers are the true masters of coming back from adversity.

We have our own Chase, and that's to finish off the year with results that will put us 11th in points.

I don't think the race was 10 laps old when I heard a thump. I didn't think much of it at the time, but it turned out to be very costly. I don't know what hit us, but whatever it was, it caused extensive damage to the right-front fender and the air dam.

We know what it takes to be competitive at Phoenix. It's just a matter of putting it all together and avoiding mistakes and accidents.

We had an awesome car with plenty of power today. I have no idea what happened in that accident. I saw the 61 car (Kevin Lepage) on the inside of me and everything broke lose. For a second, I thought I had it cleared, but the 61 car got me pretty good.

At first I thought I was going to get robbed, ... That's the way our season has gone. I'm looking forward to (tomorrow). We're good.

Not bad at all considering everything we went through. I had what I had and had to make the best of it. We're trying a lot of new stuff and we didn't get much time in the backup car in practice. The Army car wasn't comfortable enough and we didn't have any time to work on it.

We were good soldiers again -- never quitting. But we have to get this thing figured out and start the race with better handling. I have all of the confidence with our Army team that we'll get it going in the right direction.

Dale Jr. and somebody got together and shot up in front of me and I got into the back of them. My brakes locked up and the impact crunched the nose in. The Army car never drove the same after that. It was a pretty frustrating deal to have a car drive that good and then all of a sudden get wounded. For a while we had an easy top-10 car.

Any time we have a new car, I'm encouraged. When the highly-skilled engineers and fabrication department at MB2 build a car, it's on the cutting edge of technology. I am very confident that we'll have another stout hot rod in California.

The pride of driving the Army car is immense. I have so much passion for our soldiers. They're my heroes, and I want to give them something back in return. A victory tonight and in the Daytona 500 would be a great start.