McMurray Wins Daytona

ThatsRacin.com Report

Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Jamie McMurray was the piece that didn’t fit anymore at Roush Fenway Racing, so off he went looking for a job.

He landed back where his Sprint Cup career began, with owner Chip Ganassi. Ganassi is now the racing part at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. And in McMurray's first race back he landed in Victory Lane.

It took a mad dash in a green/white/checkered finish to end an otherwise forgettable day for NASCAR, but it was a memorable finish and even more memorable Daytona 500 aftermath.

"It’s unreal,” said McMurray, bawling.

“To be where I was last year and for (Earnhardt Ganassi) to take a chance and let me come back means a lot to me. What a way to pay them back.”

McMurray led once just two laps. It was a record low for the race. He was the last of a record 21 leaders. The 52 lead changes ranked third all-time for the race.

Ironically, it was a push from a friend and former teammate that helped McMurray squirt past and hold off Richard Childress Racing’s Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer on the second try to finish the race.

Biffle pushed and McMurray kept his No. 1 Chevrolet steady through Turn 1 and again on the backstretch.

“I was trying to get both of us out front so I could try to make a move on him on the last lap,” Biffle said. “I just made my move too soon.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. blitzed through the field from 10th to finish second, 0.119 seconds behind.

“When I saw (Earnhardt Jr.) behind me, I said, ‘Oh, no,’ ” McMurray acknowledged.

Earnhardt badly wanted to pass and get a much-needed win. Never mind it was the Daytona 500.

But he liked that a driver and team with lineage to the one his late father had founded was about to win the biggest event in stock car racing.

“I was happy for him. He’s been through a lot,” Earnhardt said. “That team has been through a lot.”

McMurray lost his place at Roush Fenway Racing when it downsized to four teams to comply with NASCAR rules.

An odd SpeedWeeks culminated with Sprint Cup finally becoming the primary focus. Then it became a target of scrutiny and scorn.

While the first 11 days were defined by Danica Patrick’s emergence as a ready-made NASCAR star – and a serviceable work in progress as a Nationwide Series driver – the last was about the most prestigious race of the NASCAR season.

Patrick's exit made room for old racing heroes and country music acts and politicians injecting themselves into the festivities. But there was also a realization that the season could be another challenging one.

After TV audience and attendance numbers tumbled again last season, NASCAR tweaked the rules and proclaimed a renewed commitment to its burlier past.

The 2.5-mile speedway's grandstands were nearly full Sunday. And the speedway announced that all "single-day" tickets had been sold.

But capacity was reduced by 22,000 seats during the off-season. And other effects of a flat economy were evident, scores of open RV spots among them.

The grandstands bled patrons after the first red flag – 100 minutes' worth – for track repairs. The outward flow increased as the day wore on and any value attached to an earlier and much-touted 1 p.m. start time was lost.

A second red flag period acknowledging a fix that had failed took 44 minutes more.

The race began hopefully enough, with 19 leaders through the first 122 laps, Earnhardt and A.J. Allmendinger among them.

But this race was consumed by a hole.

The race was red-flagged for 100 minutes on Lap 122 of 200 when a hole some drivers described as 18 inches long and 8 inches wide was discovered between Turns 1 and 2.

After John Andretti hit the wall to draw a caution, Bowyer led as crews began patching two spots. He was followed by David Ragan and Kasey Kahne.

The first 50 laps had passed uneventfully except for a blown right-rear tire that sidelined Brad Keselowski – winner of a restrictor-plate race at Talladega last spring.

Keselowski's Penske teammate Sam Hornish Jr. and others got caught in the aftermath.

Fresh tires became a valued commodity as several of the early challengers, among them Earnhardt and Juan Pablo Montoya, struggled at the end of green-flag run on the warmest day of SpeedWeeks.

After a green-flag/pit cycle that concluded on Lap 50, Kurt Busch, Allmendinger and 2006 winner Jimmie Johnson broke a dozen car lengths ahead of the field.

The pace increased markedly after the delay – much like last season, when rain was imminent – and word began spreading among drivers and spotters that the first track patch was not holding.

Kevin Harvick led after the second delay and held the lead seven times for 41 laps. Bowyer led eight times for 37 laps.