Nadeau's replacement was Joe Nemechek, who had been released from Haas-Carter Motorsports after his team lost its sponsor Kmart due to bankruptcy and had spent much of the early part of the season substituting for an injured Johnny Benson, Jr. in the No. 10 car at MB2. Nemechek won at Richmond in 2003 but was let go before the end of the season so he could join MB2 Motorsports as the replacement for an injured Nadeau. 2004 was a sad year for Vickers and the No. 25 team. "Papa" Joe, long-time owner of the No. 25 car, died in July, while Vickers' close friend Ricky Hendrick (the more recent owner of the 25) perished in a plane crash that also took the lives of nine others in October. Vickers improved to seventeenth in points in 2005. Midway through the 2006 campaign, Vickers announced he would leave Hendrick Motorsports at the end of the season.