McMurray Earns Solid Seventh-Place Finish in Brickyard 400
SPEEDWAY, Indiana, (August 8, 2004)
--- Jamie McMurray and the Texaco/Havoline team used a "Never Give Up" attitude to score a seventh-place finish in the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The seventh-place finish was McMurray's 11th top-10 finish of the season and moved the Joplin, Mo. native one step closer to breaking into the NASCAR Top 10 and the Chase for the Championship. McMurray leaves Indy sitting 14th in points, only 109 points out of the top 10.
"We struggled there at the beginning," McMurray said. "We made some incredible changes to the Texaco/Havoline Dodge during the race. I'm shocked we ended up where we did. But overall, it was a good day. We fell back to like 38th at one point in the race, and we just kept adjusting on it. Track position also worked a little bit to our favor. All-in-all, it was a pretty good finish."
After qualifying eighth, McMurray quickly radioed his crew at the start of the race that his Texaco/Havoline Dodge was extremely tight. By lap 20, McMurray had fallen back to 27th place.
During a caution period on lap 24, McMurray headed for pit road and was serviced with four tires and fuel while the Texaco/Havoline team made numerous chassis adjustments in an effort to free the car up. McMurray exited pit road in 31st place.
McMurray continued to fight a tight handling race car as he was running 20th by lap 50.
The name of the game for McMurray and the Texaco/Havoline team throughout most of the race was one of never giving up as a wide array of chassis adjustments were made to the Texaco/Havoline Dodge with each ensuing caution period. By lap 100, McMurray was running in the 19th position.
With 20 laps remaining in the event, the Texaco/Havoline Dodge had moved its way into 12th place as McMurray came on the radio and stated that his car was really good and that all the changes that had been made had definitely helped.
By lap 150, McMurray was running in ninth place. The Brickyard 400 would end under a green-white-checkered finish as a caution flag waved on lap 154. On the final lap, McMurray was able to advance two positions as drivers in front of him experienced problems. When the checkered flag fell, the Texaco/Havoline Dodge crossed the finish line in seventh place.
Next up for the team is the Brickyard 400 this Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. McMurray finished third in the event last year in his first start at the famed speedway.
View the Brickyard 400
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