not sure who, but hearing Joe Nemechek, currently in the #25 Hendrick Motorpsorts Chevy, is close to signing a deal with an established Cup team, not PPI Motorsports 2nd team. Hearing it could be the #01 US Army team.(10-11-2003) Nadeau part time in 2004? UPDATE Nemechek in the #01; Vickers to the #25 after Martinsville: Hearing an announcement will come Monday morning regarding the #01 and the driver for next year, with a rehab program for Nadeau that will encompass 12-15 races in 2004.(10-12-2003) UPDATE 2: Joe Nemechek will leave his #25 UAW-Delphi Chevy team following next weekend’s race at Martinsville, and run the final four races of the season with MB2 Motorsports and its #01 US Army Pontiacs. In addition, Nemechek will remain with MB2 as the team’s driver for the 2004 season, sources said. A formal announcement of the driver change is expected as early as Monday. Hendrick’s Busch Series driver, Brian Vickers, has already been named as the driver of the #25 in Cup in 2004 and was planning to run the final four races this season in the #01. He will now run those races with his new team, Hendrick’s No. 25, sources confirmed. Officials with Hendrick and MB2 could not be reached for comment Sunday night. Jerry Nadeau started the season in the #01, but suffered serious head, lung and rib injuries in an accident in practice May 2 at Richmond. In recent weeks, officials with MB2 have said they were holding Nadeau’s seat for him in the #01. Nadeau has undergone extensive rehabilitation but is not yet ready to run a full Cup schedule. Instead, MB2 is expected to announce a plan to provide Nadeau opportunities to drive in various NASCAR events in 2004, sources said.( ThatsRacin.com ) UPDATE 3: As Jerry Nadeau continues to recover from a head injury he suffered in a May 2 accident at Richmond International Raceway, MB2 Motorsports announced today that Joe Nemechek has agreed to drive the #01 U.S. Army/MB2 Pontiac in the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup season and in the final four races of the 2003 season. MB2 Motorsports also announced it has teamed with Hendrick Motorsports and NEMCO Motorsports to establish a recovery driving program for Nadeau that will most likely include a mixture of Nextel Cup, Busch and ARCA races during the 2004 season. “We were faced with circumstances that none of us wished we had to deal with,” said Jay Frye, general manager of MB2 Motorsports. “But due to the reality of our current situation, we felt in the best interests of Jerry and of the race team this was the right path to take as we head into the 2004 season. Jerry continues to make progress and once he is ready to return to driving, we’ll have a program in place that will allow him to gradually make his comeback to Cup racing. The uncertainty of how long his full recovery will take is difficult for everyone, but Jerry is a young (33-years-old) and determined individual who has many years of racing ahead of him.” Nadeau said he is frustrated at times by his recovery progress, but he is ready for the challenge and looks forward to the day when he will be able to get behind the wheel of a racecar and be competitive. “I have repeatedly said that I will not rush back,” said Nadeau. “I still have a ways to go, but I will get there. To be honest, the reality of not being able to come back sooner than I would have liked, is hard to take. But I want to do this right and I am grateful to MB2, Hendrick Motorsports and NEMCO Motorsports for giving me the opportunity to work my way back to the Cup series.” Nemechek, who has been racing full time on the NASCAR Cup circuit since 1994, most recently in the No. 25 Hendrick Motorsports entry, has three career victories, including a win at this year’s spring race in Richmond.(US Army PR)(10-13-2003)
