Racebeat (05/05/03)
by Rich Romer

RICHMOND, VA -- NASCAR Winston Cup: Blunders like missing pit road have surely cost Joe Nemechek in his career. The mistake cost him 24 spots Saturday night, but this time he had 173 laps and the car to more than make up for it.

With help from a no-pit gamble that paid off with 100 laps left, three late-race cautions and rain that halted the race with seven laps to go, Nemechek won the Pontiac Excitement 400 for his third career Winston Cup victory. It almost didn't happen after Nemechek and crew chief Peter Sospenzo miscommunicated on when the driver should pit, and he missed the pits and dropped from first to 25th when he finally pitted on his own. Before the blunder, Nemechek looked like he had the dominant car. After it, he had to prove it, and with a lot of cars in front of him. At the end, the last three of a track-record 15 cautions for 91 laps helped, and so did the free pass after the rain shower came. Bobby Labonte was second for the third consecutive race, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Robby Gordon, who rallied from three laps down early on and gave Chevrolet a sweep of the top four spots. Mark Martin was fifth in a Ford.

NASCAR Busch Series: Winston Cup

star Kevin Harvick won the Busch Series Hardee's 250 under caution at Richmond International Raceway. Harvick raced Scott Riggs to the finish line before the final caution came out with four laps remaining in the 250-lap event. The race was red-flagged on lap 241 for eight minutes to clean debris after Mike Bliss crashed in Turn 2. On the green-flag restart with six laps to go, Ron Hornaday hit the back of Shane Hmiel to bring out the record 14th caution at the track and force the event to finish behind the pace car. The first night race of the season ran 94 laps under the yellow flag and finished in 2 1/2 hours. Harvick led the final 52 laps and earned $38,275. Riggs took just two tires on his Ford Taurus on his final pit stop on lap 187 and challenged Harvick before settling for his third top-three finish of the season. Tony Raines was third, with pole sitter Michael Waltrip fourth and Scott Wimmer fifth. Rained recorded his third top-five finish in his last five starts at the short track. Waltrip was the only driver to lead multiple times. He was up front four times for 53 laps. Wimmer also was one of the eight drivers to lead as he did between laps 151-169. Johnny Sauter, Stacy Compton, Shane Hmiel, David Green and Bobby Hamilton Jr. rounded out the top 10. Green cut into Todd Bodine's points lead. He is 40 points behind Bodine, who clipped Caleb Clanton on lap 88 and never made it back into contention, finishing 29th. Martin Truex Jr., who drove a Chevrolet co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., made his way to the front between laps 188-198. But the transmission on his car failed 18 laps later and he finished 31st.