April_2006

josh & the KJ Motorsports team
pick up their first feature win of the year (4/22/06)

Fingernails were shortened due to the intensity during Saturday night’s NASCAR Late Model feature. Rookie of the Year candidate and Richard Petty Driving Experience instructor Josh Nelms (basically an unknown commodity in the Rockford Speedway stands) was faced with two late race restarts. With six laps to go, Nelms dealt with five-time defending champion Ricky Bilderback to his inside. Bilderback’s first bid for the top spot was declined due to another caution.
During the choose rule used at Rockford Speedway, Bilderback went high to start right on the bumper of Nelms, defending Big 8 Series Champion Jon Reynolds, Jr went to the inside of Bilderback for the restart--just four laps shy of the finish. At the drop of the green, Bilderback shot past Reynolds, Jr and to the inside of Nelms, the two machines pulled even down the backstretch. Nelms held his line like a veteran racer and went on to record his first Rockford Speedway Late Model feature victory.

Opening day for the Rockford speedway was in store for the kj motorsports team. the team was riding a great run from the week before with a disappointing finish. josh was anxious to get back on the track. josh was quick in practice and was happy with the car. he stated with more seat time he will be a front runner. josh qualified 9th quick with a 14.16. he started 2nd row inside and ran a hard fought 2nd place finish as he ran the bottom groove for 8 laps. In the feature josh started on the pole and at the beginning was stuck running the bottom groove and hung in tough. he slowly started slipping back and settled in 5th. as he passed the halfway mark he has moved up to 4th and with 7 laps to go josh slid into 3rd and held on to that position for the finish.

Well, no joke we actually got to race the new late model. After a long winter, the newly formed KJ Motorsports headed out to practice the Alley Drywall-BC Auto Body-JT's Pizza and Pub-McMahon Cartage-Simply Suspension-Towing Express-Pyle Designs 2005 Monte Carlo. We unloaded and put some laps under slow speeds and once the green fell the gas was down. The first few laps were a little off as Josh was getting used to the car. By the end of practice night Josh was getting more comfortable in the car. On Saturday, the crew and Josh made some changes. Josh immediately noticed the difference and was happy about the changes. He said after the morning practice the he felt that they had a top 10 car. Josh needed to qualify in the top 14 to qualify into the feature. Josh went out and ran 14.12 around the quarter mile and ended up 9th quick. He was excited that he qualified in at his first late model race. The heat was just a tune session and Josh ran 5th. In the feature Josh started 5th row inside and moved up to 8th when the 2 cars in front of him collided and collected Josh. Josh came to the pits and made repairs and went back out and stayed on the lead lap. After restarting 18th, Josh worked his way back up to finish 11th in his debut.