PENSACOLA, FL :: Suddenly John Hunter Nemechek isn’t the only future star shining at NEMCO Motorsports as teammate Dominique Van Wieringen enjoyed her own breakout moment on Friday night — finishing second in the Southern Super Series Mountain Dew Kickstart 100 at Five Flags Speedway.
Van Wieringen, a 20-year-old out of Ontario, Canada, joined NEMCO late last season with very little fanfare but is starting to match the success of her much more accomplished and experienced teammate.
Despite early struggles while adapting to new equipment and new mechanics, Van Wieringen is starting to figure it out.
She led 32 laps two weeks ago in the CARS Super Late Model Tour event at Orange County Speedway before a mechanical issue set her Chevrolet ablaze and out of the race. She bounced back however, and quickly proved that her success wasn’t a fluke with her performance on Friday in the Sunshine State.
Mountain Dew Kickstart 100 –> Recap and Results
Driving her familiar No. 5, Van Wieringen just missed the pole at Five Flags, qualifying second to defending Southern Super Series champion Bubba Pollard during time trials. The mandatory redraw for starting positions placed her in sixth for the drop of the green flag but it didn’t matter as she quickly made her way to the runner-up spot.
She would remain amongst the leaders for the majority of the race, sending the message that Dominque Van Wieringen was to be taken seriously.
She was all over the rear bumper of eventual winner Kyle Grissom with three laps to go and appeared destined to make the pass for the win when a caution with three laps to go changed the complexion of the finish.
As a result, the end of the race came down to one final restart that saw Van Wieringen spin her tires, allowing Grissom to cruise to his first career tour victory. While coming up two positions short on Friday, Van Wieringen was pleased and felt relieved to see the results finally manifest after her somewhat uninspiring start during the spring.
“We just needed time together,” Van Wieringen said following the race. “That’s all it was. We’ve been working hard, working at this together and learning.
“It’s taken just a few races and here we are.”
Those first couple of months were trying for Van Wieringen as she wanted to match the performance of Nemechek, especially at Watermelon Capital Speedway in January but just didn’t have the seat time needed to keep up with the NASCAR Truck Series driver and defending Snowball Derby champion.
Her car chief, Austin Pollak, has taken a hands-on approach with his young driver and says he sees a lot of promise from Van Wieringen. Pollak first joined NEMCO in 2013, John Hunter’s second season, and believes Van Wieringen is actually advancing faster than the second-generation Nemechek.
“A part of that is we have the experience of working with John Hunter when he was younger and still learning and we’ve been able to apply that to Dominique but a lot of that is on her too. She is really competitive and wants to be as good as she can be.
“She’s going to win a race this year if not multiple.”
Based on Friday, the latter prognostication is the safer bet.
Calr Gale Wants to Race More
Former NASCAR Camping World Truck Series winner Cale Gale returned to a Super Late Model for the first time in over a year on Friday night, driving for Kurt Jett in his No. 9 entry. The team brought a brand new car to Pensacola but caught caught up in the final lap crash where David Rogers spun sideways in front of the field and collected several cars.
Despite the bad luck, Gale hopes to get to more racing this season as an augment to his work at Gale Force Suspension.
“I hope to do some more of this,” Gale said. “I have really enjoyed all this time with (son) Camber but we really want to make it out to the track more and get behind the wheel. I miss it and I’ve really enjoyed working with these guys this weekend. This is a real good car and maybe we can do some more with it in the future.
Next Up
Weather permitting, the Southern Super Series will again race on Saturday night at Mobile International Speedway in the Miller Lite 100. Pollard is the defending winner of the race.
Updated Unofficial Standings after Pensacola
- Casey Smith Ldr
- Garrett Jones -43
- Donnie Wilson -46
- Daniel Hemric -58
- Casey Roderick -62
- Kyle Grissom -87
- Jeremy Pate -104
- Bubba Pollard -123
