McMurray Pilots Texaco/Havoline Dodge to Third Top Five of the Season
TALLADEGA, Ala. (May 1, 2005)
--- Just hours after FOX announced that Jamie McMurray had defeated Kurt Busch in NASCAR's Sexiest Driver competition, he piloted his Texaco/Havoline Dodge to a fifth-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway. McMurray was able to avoid the eight cautions and two multi-car accidents, to bring home fifth place in the Aaron's 499.
"I was fortunate to miss all the wrecks," said McMurray. "Donnie (crew chief Wingo) made some really good calls. I just took fuel on that last stop and it put us up front. I think that kept us from getting caught up in that really big wreck. This is probably one of the best cars I've had, and it felt great to put it all together."
McMurray was hoping to avenge his 32nd-place finish at Daytona in chassis #006 as he took the green flag in the 13th position. The drafting game immediately began, and McMurray was racing two and three wide. By lap eight he was sitting 11th. The No. 42 went three wide again on lap 14, but McMurray was left with no drafting help and fell back to 21st.
The yellow flag waved on lap 19 and McMurray told crew chief Donnie Wingo that he was really tight and needed to be freed up all the way around. The Texaco/Havoline crew fitted the car with four fresh tires, added fuel and made a trackbar adjustment. When racing resumed, McMurray was 27th and reporting the car was really fast and sucked up in the draft well.
McMurray again reported the car a little tight, but pit strategy on lap 39 paid off for the No. 42 Dodge. Wingo called McMurray down pit road for just two tires and fuel which launched the Texaco/Havoline Dodge up eight spots, to restart in the eighth position. McMurray got a good push from the No. 2 on lap 55 and was able to climb to the third position.
The cars were quickly stacking up behind him as the field went three-wide. The Texaco/Havoline Dodge continued to ride the drafting wave, and was eighth when green-flag pit stops began on lap 72. McMurray dove into the pits for four tires and fuel, and returned to the track 33rd.
It only took 26 laps, but McMurray was able to work back up to the front. When the caution came out on lap 101, he was 14th. The Texaco/Havoline crew put on four fresh tires and added fuel, and McMurray returned to the track in the top 10. The first multi-car incident occurred just 31 laps later while the No. 42 was in the third spot.
While going into turn one and two, the No. 4 car got loose behind McMurray and made contact with two other cars. When the dust settled, 58 percent of the field was involved in the wreck. Several cars, including teammate Casey Mears, were sitting in the infield grass. McMurray's other teammate Sterling Marlin also suffered damage.
After a 43 minute red-flag period so NASCAR officials could clean the track and repair the damage to the outside wall, racing resumed and only 16 cars were left on the track. McMurray brought the Texaco/Havoline Dodge down pit road for four tires and fuel, and he restarted eighth on lap 137.
As many of the cars left on the track found out, the racing changed dramatically with only a handful of cars left in the lead draft. McMurray commented that he was "not sure how to pass right now, I can maintain my position but there is not much drafting help out here." McMurray was able to maintain his run in the top 10 and was fourth when the yellow flag waved on lap 166.
After much discussion, Wingo and McMurray decided that track position was important. During the pit stop on lap 167, the crew put on right-side tires only and added fuel. McMurray restarted fourth. With the laps winding down, he pushed the No. 8 car into the inside to pick up a spot. The No. 8 dropped low however on the restart on lap 174, and McMurray stayed in the high line that had been helping him so much throughout the previous runs.
The Texaco/Havoline Dodge fell back to eighth, but the No. 42 found a friend in the No. 38. The two worked their way up to second and third when the second multi-car accident happened on lap 186 behind them. The green-white-checker finish took place on lap 192, and McMurray followed the No. 24 of Jeff Gordon. Gordon, who had led most of the day, was able to retain his lead and McMurray dropped to fifth after Tony Stewart got a run in the final laps.
"We'd had good restarts and passed a couple of cars. So I thought we might have a chance there at the end," McMurray said. "Elliott (Sadler) laid back a little bit more than I did, but he was my friend on the track. He knocked the heck out of me off turn two, but that was cool. It's very stressful, and I'm glad it's over. I never would have thought Tony (Stewart) would have been able to get up underneath me and pass me. It seemed like the outside had been better. I would have thought someone in 10th would have pulled out and tried to go with whoever was on the outside, but it's tough to make those decisions.
"When they dropped the green flag I was on the inside and couldn't get up. I dropped almost all the way to the back. I got to the middle and my car was really fast. It's weird because after that red flag, the middle didn't work as well when we took half the cars away. You needed to be on the top or bottom, and if you got in the middle you went backwards. No strategy today, we just needed to stay out of the big wreck."
McMurray's fifth-place finish put him 10th in the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup, just 301 points back from leader Jimmie Johnson. Ganassi teammates Mears and Marlin finished 14th and 34th, respectively.
The Texaco/Havoline team travel to Darlington Raceway next weekend for the Dodge Charger 500. The race will be broadcast on FOX television and MRN radio at 7:00 p.m. EST.
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