LOUDON, N.H. – When Shaun Wheeler was living in his hometown of West Bethel in the mid-1990s, the thought of being an integral part of a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series team seemed nothing more than a distant dream.

Yet, when NASCAR’s high-profile Chase for the Nextel Cup Championship officially gets underway Sunday in the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway, Wheeler will be there on pit road – as tire carrier for the No. 01 U.S. Army-sponsored entry driven by Joe Nemechek.

For Wheeler, the past six years have brought him from the friendly confines of Western Maine to the heart of NASCAR country. Monday through Friday, Wheeler is a fabricator for ppc Racing, which fields a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series entry driven by Terry Cook. On the weekends, it’s off to the race tracks to work o Nemechek’s Nextel Cup team.

“When I first came down here, I was pretty nervous about the future,” Wheeler said in a telephone interview Friday from the ppc Racing shop in Mooresville, N.C. “I missed my family and friends at first, but after a while I got used to the new surroundings. I’ve made some great friends down here, built a new house three years ago and plan to stay here the rest of my life. Racing is the only life I know now, and this (Mooresville, N.C.) is where it all happens.”

Wheeler landed his first racing job in January of 2000 with BACE Motorsports. At the time, BACE fielded two teams in the NASCAR Busch Series with drivers Tony Raines and Chad Little. The BACE organization had a reputation as one of the premier teams competing at the Busch Series level, earning a championship with driver Johnny Benson in 1995.

“The job with BACE Motorsports was a great starting point for my NASCAR career,” said Wheeler. “They coached me along and taught me a lot about the technical side of the sport. When I started out, I did everything from sweep the floors to wash the bathrooms. But I worked hard and showed them I was serious about making a career in racing, so they moved me along as I picked up new skills. Now, I’m a fabricator and have plenty of responsibilities.”

In the summer of 2002, Wheeler was hired by Toyota Racing Development (TRD) and assigned to the Bill Davis Racing (BDR) team in the truck series. He was one of the first fabricators hired under the TRD program and worked with BDR’s truck series teams with drivers Bill Lester and Shelby Howard. In January 2003, when Innovative Motorsports Inc. (IMI) announced it had joined TRD in the truck series, Wheeler jumped at the opportunity and moved to IMI with drivers Robert Huffman and Hank Parker Jr. Wheeler continued to work as a finish fabricator, but this time was also an over-the-wall crew member with the No. 12 team as its front-tire carrier.

When the doors closed at IMI in December 2004, Wheeler’s search for work was short. He was hired at ppc Racing and now works on the No. 10 truck driven by Terry Cook. After Friday’s first practice session at New Hampshire, Cook was fifth on the speed charts.

“I take great pride in being part of ppc Racing,” added Wheeler. “It’s a rock-solid team with a strong resume and history of success. Knowing my work helps keep our truck stay together at high-speed tracks around the country is rewarding. But what really has me excited lately is my opportunity with MB2 (Nemechek’s team) in Nextel Cup. I was a little nervous at first, because that’s the big time, and people are watching your every move. But I’m getting settled in to the role, and I love it.

“Being a part of Nextel Cup racing is a dream come true, one I didn’t think was possible back in West Bethel.”