Nemechek retains position in California.

Joe Nemechek overcame two unlucky breaks during green-flag pit stops to post a 14th-place result in the Auto Club 500 at Fontana and remain seventh in the Nextel Cup standings.

Nemechek started 26th and when he came into the pits for fresh rubber and fuel on lap 50 he was running in seventh place and chasing down the leaders after a solid start to the race at the wheel of the #13 CertainTeed Chevrolet, with his machine proving to be one of the quickest on track in the opening stages.

"The CertainTeed Chevy was absolutely awesome in the beginning," he said. "The grip was tremendous and we kept on moving forward. I wish we had a longer pit window because I didn't want to break our momentum. The set-up was perfect and we were one of the fastest cars on the track."

Unfortunately, the momentum that Nemechek referred to was broken a few laps after the green-flag stop due to do an untimely caution. He was among the first group of drivers to pit on lap 50 and as luck would have it for the #13 driver, a caution came out a couple of laps later, giving a big advantage to the cars that didn't already pit and a huge disadvantage to the cars that had. Instead of maintaining his top-ten position, Nemechek fell a lap down and was relegated to 25th place.

"That hurt," he said. "This track is difficult to pass on and to lose all those spots quickly put a big dent in our rhythm. Fortunately it was early in the race and we had time to battle back."

Nemechek fought back with tenacity, as he did in finishing ninth in the Daytona 500. But on the next pit stop on lap 90, the same thing happened to Nemechek - he pitted under green and the next lap a caution was called for debris.

"We couldn't buy a break," he said. "It was nobody's fault -- just bad timing."

Nemechek continued to be a lap down and was stuck in the mid 20s with track position before finally climbed back onto the lead lap and into the top 20 to finish 14th.

"Once we got our lap back, we started to move forward again," he explained. "But the car wasn't as strong as in the beginning of the race. For some reason, it was awfully tight...the valance could have gotten knocked in.

"But overall it wasn't a bad day. And for that matter, it's been a pretty good start to the season for a new team. I feel we have a bright future with this #13 CertainTeed team."