Jerry Nadeau - NASCAR Career

NASCAR Career

Nadeau's NASCAR career began in 1995 in the Busch Series. He made his debut at Hickory Motor Speedway in the #15 Buss Fuses Ford Thunderbird and ran five races that season with a best finish of nineteenth at Myrtle Beach Speedway. He ran a pair of Busch races the following season in the #59 Winmiser Chevy, but finished 39th in both races.

After returning from racing in Europe in 1997, Nadeau moved to the Winston Cup Series, and signed a five-race contract with Precision Products Racing to replace Morgan Shepherd in the #1 R+L Carriers/Cruisin' America Pontiac Grand Prix. He made all five races, including a ninth-place qualification at New Hampshire International Speedway, but failed to finish higher than thirtieth and was let go at the end of his contract. In 1998, he signed up to drive a full schedule in Winston Cup with Bill Elliott Racing to drive the #13 FirstPlus Financial Ford for a car owned by Dan Marino. He failed to qualify for two of the first seven races, and was let go from the team midway through the season. He was immediately picked up by Melling Racing to drive the #9 Cartoon Network Ford Taurus, and finished the season thirty-sixth in championship points, and third in the NASCAR Rookie of the Year points standings.

Nadeau returned to Melling in 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, earning his first top-ten finish at Talladega Superspeedway. Early in the 1999 season, he announced that he would be leaving Melling at the end of the year, and two weeks after placing fifth at Watkins Glen International, he moved to MB2 Motorsports to replace Ernie Irvan in the #36 M&M's Pontiac. In 2000, he drove the #25 Michael Holigan Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, and after two fourth-place finishes, won the season-ending NAPA 500. Holigan was replaced by the United Auto Workers and Delphi Corporation in 2001, and although Nadeau did not win again, he placed a career-best seventeenth in points that season with ten top-ten finishes. He opened 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Series with an eighth-place at Bristol, but failed to improve on that performance and was released from Hendrick. He filled in for Johnny Benson at MB2 for a pair of races, before leading twenty laps and almost winning at Infineon Raceway; leading 20 laps in the #44 Georgia Pacific/Brawny car before a rear end gear gave out on his Dodge. After another fill-in stint at Michael Waltrip Racing, Nadeau returned to the #44 Petty Dodge with the expectation that he would finish out the year until shoulder injuries ended his season.

Read more about this topic:  Jerry Nadeau

Famous quotes containing the word career:

    I began my editorial career with the presidency of Mr. Adams, and my principal object was to render his administration all the assistance in my power. I flattered myself with the hope of accompanying him through [his] voyage, and of partaking in a trifling degree, of the glory of the enterprise; but he suddenly tacked about, and I could follow him no longer. I therefore waited for the first opportunity to haul down my sails.
    William Cobbett (1762–1835)