Tough Luck Bites McMurray in Darlington -
21 March 2004
DARLINGTON, S.C. (March 21, 2004)
--- Lady Luck was not on Jamie McMurray's side today in the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington Raceway. After leading 40 laps and having a shot to win, bad luck bit McMurray in the form of two costly pit road miscues. McMurray finished the race in the 21st position.
"We had problems on the front tire on the first pit stop and went from first to 10th ," McMurray said. "Then the second time we came in we had worked our way back up to fifth. We had a loose lug nut and had to come back in, so we had two bad pit stops. The Texaco/Havoline Dodge was great, but we just couldn't buy a break today."
After qualifying 21st, McMurray wasted little time maneuvering his way to the front. By lap 23, the Texaco/Havoline Dodge was running in the 12th position.
McMurray had worked his way up to the fourth position by lap 109 when he came over the radio and said he had a tire going down. The Texaco/Havoline team quickly got ready for McMurray to head down pit road for service. After the four-tire stop was completed, McMurray found himself running in the 28th position, one lap down to the leaders.
What seemed to be a bad break actually turned out in McMurray's favor as a few laps later all the leaders made their scheduled green-flag pit stops. As a result of the green flag pit stops, McMurray grabbed the lead on lap 126 and held an 11-second advantage on second place. McMurray would lead the next 40 laps.
McMurray's bad luck began to unfold on lap 165 when the caution flag waved. During the pit stop, there were problems with the front tires, and McMurray exited pit road in the 10th position.
Over the next 50 laps, McMurray battled his way back into the top five and was running fifth by lap 230.
Bad luck bit McMurray again during a caution period on lap 230. As McMurray made his pit stop and was fitted with four tires and fuel, a lug nut on the left rear tire was not completely tightened. When the race resumed on lap 238, McMurray quickly radioed his crew that he felt a vibration.
After riding out the vibration for a few laps, McMurray was forced to pit road on lap 251. The culprit - a loose wheel. McMurray re-entered the race one lap down to the leaders.
McMurray would spend the remainder of the race trying to overcome the bad luck that had cost the Texaco/Havoline team a chance at victory. When the checkered flag waved, McMurray's Dodge was credited with a 21st-place finish.
McMurray leaves Darlington 19th in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup points, but is only 94 points out of the NASCAR Top 10.
Next up for McMurray and the Texaco/Havoline team is the fast, high-banked, half-mile "bullring" known as Bristol Motor Speedway for the running of the Food City 500 this Sunday.
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