Five-one-hundredths-of-a-second. That's close. Jamie
McMurray didn't care. It might as well have been five minutes, or five
hours, five days, five weeks. He won.
McMurray couldn't believe it. Charging back from an early race penalty,
McMurray edged Kyle Busch by an eyelash, tying the second-closest finish
since the advent of electronic scoring in 1993 before a screaming crowd of
more than 100,000 race fans.
It was the second victory of McMurray's career and it was well-deserved. He
showed from the beginning after starting 15th he had a car that could win on
this exciting night.
This one went right down to the wire. It was an oddsmaker's nightmare with
McMurray, Busch, Jeff Gordon and Casey Mears leading in the final few laps.
McMurray persevered.
Following Busch was brother Kurt. Carl Edwards was fourth, Gordon fifth and
Greg Biffle sixth.
Rounding out the top 10 were Clint Bowyer, Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, who
made a nice recovery from an early-race accident, Jimmie Johnson and David
Gilliland, who ran in the top five towards the end before losing the handle
and spinning out on the backstretch.
Caution flags throughout the race kept the evenly-matched field bunched
together throughout the night. It was perhaps one of the most
hotly-contested NASCAR NEXTEL Cup races, not to mention the unbelievably
close finish.
McMurray was pinching himself afterwards because he was having a hard time
believing it himself. His last win came in 2002 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
That race was his first and only for the Chip Ganassi team.
This one was his first for the Roush Fenway Racing Ford team but it very
likely won't be his last.
To start the dramatic night, Denny Hamlin passed Gordon on the third lap for
the lead, just a few seconds before Jeff Green and Kasey Kahne crashed in
the first turn to bring out the evening's first caution.
On lap 11, last week's winner Hamlin, became this week's first big loser.
Hamlin, leading the race, was tapped from the rear by teammate Tony Stewart,
turned sideways and slid back up the track into Stewart, ending both
drivers’ hopes for victory on a hot, humid, Florida night. Dale Earnhardt
Jr. was also damaged beyond competitive repair in this accident.
Bowyer took the lead after the caution and the action behind him looked like
what you normally see on a Saturday night short track. Drivers swapped
positions like trading cards before Tony Raines brought out the third
caution flag spinning out in turn four.
McMurray led briefly before being black-flagged for going below the yellow
line in passing Jeff Gordon for the lead.
The fourth caution of the race flew on lap 57 of the 160-lap event. Kevin
Harvick, this year's Daytona 500 winner, was bumped by Montoya and scrubbed
the outside wall. A tire went down a lap later and Harvick lost time limping
back to the pits before the caution flag was waved.
At 100 laps, Kurt Busch was in front with Johnson second, brother Kyle
third, Kenseth next and JJ Yeley fifth.
Sterling Marlin cut a tire on lap 115, was clipped by David Gilliland, and
brought out another caution. David Stremme, having a terrific run, pulled
out of his pit after stopping and was rammed by Paul Menard. Stremme was
running third when he pitted. The incident dropped him from contention.
Results
|
FIN |
ST |
CAR |
DRIVER |
MAKE |
SPONSOR |
PTS/BNS |
LAPS |
STATUS |
|
1 |
15 |
26 |
Jamie McMurray
|
Ford |
IRWIN Marathon Saw Blades
|
190/5 |
160 |
Running |
|
2 |
11 |
5 |
Kyle Busch
|
Chevrolet |
CARQUEST / Kellogg's
|
175/5 |
160 |
Running |
|
3 |
16 |
2 |
Kurt Busch
|
Dodge |
Miller Lite
|
170/5 |
160 |
Running |
|
4 |
7 |
99 |
Carl Edwards
|
Ford |
Office Depot
|
160/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
5 |
1 |
24 |
Jeff Gordon
|
Chevrolet |
Pepsi / DuPont
|
160/5 |
160 |
Running |
|
6 |
18 |
16 |
Greg Biffle
|
Ford |
Dish Network
|
150/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
7 |
12 |
07 |
Clint Bowyer
|
Chevrolet |
Jack Daniel's
|
156/10 |
160 |
Running |
|
8 |
3 |
17 |
Matt Kenseth
|
Ford |
R+L Carriers / DEWALT
|
142/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
9 |
27 |
9 |
Kasey Kahne
|
Dodge |
Dodge Dealers / I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry
|
138/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
10 |
4 |
48 |
Jimmie Johnson
|
Chevrolet |
Lowe's |
134/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
11 |
32 |
38 |
David Gilliland
|
Ford |
M&M's Red, White & Blue
|
130/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
12 |
24 |
6 |
David Ragan * |
Ford |
AAA Travel
|
127/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
13 |
10 |
1 |
Martin Truex Jr.
|
Chevrolet |
Bass Pro Shops / NWTF
|
124/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
14 |
14 |
12 |
Ryan Newman
|
Dodge |
ALLTEL |
121/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
15 |
25 |
7 |
Robby Gordon
|
Ford |
Camping World/ RVs.com |
118/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
16 |
5 |
31 |
Jeff Burton
|
Chevrolet |
AT&T Mobility
|
115/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
17 |
9 |
01 |
Mark Martin
|
Chevrolet |
Principal Financial Group
|
112/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
18 |
35 |
70 |
Johnny Sauter
|
Chevrolet |
Haas Automation
|
109/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
19 |
21 |
25 |
Casey Mears
|
Chevrolet |
National Guard / GMAC
|
111/5 |
160 |
Running |
|
20 |
17 |
18 |
J.J. Yeley
|
Chevrolet |
Interstate Batteries
|
103/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
21 |
41 |
15 |
Paul Menard * |
Chevrolet |
Pittsburgh Paints / Menards
|
100/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
22 |
26 |
40 |
David Stremme
|
Dodge |
Coors Light
|
97/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
23 |
40 |
22 |
Dave Blaney
|
Toyota |
Caterpillar |
94/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
24 |
38 |
21 |
Bill Elliott
|
Ford |
U.S. Air Force
|
96/5 |
160 |
Running |
|
25 |
43 |
78 |
Kenny Wallace
|
Chevrolet |
Furniture Row Racing
|
93/5 |
160 |
Running |
|
26 |
42 |
00 |
David Reutimann * |
Toyota |
Burger King
|
85/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
27 |
37 |
44 |
Dale Jarrett
|
Toyota |
UPS |
82/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
28 |
34 |
45 |
John Andretti
|
Dodge |
Tire Kingdom
|
79/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
29 |
33 |
13 |
Joe Nemechek
|
Chevrolet |
Charleston S.C. Fire Dept.
|
76/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
30 |
36 |
83 |
Brian Vickers
|
Toyota |
Red Bull
|
73/0 |
160 |
Running |
|
31 |
31 |
88 |
Ricky Rudd
|
Ford |
M&M's |
70/0 |
158 |
Running |
|
32 |
20 |
42 |
Juan Montoya * |
Dodge |
Texaco / Havoline
|
67/0 |
157 |
Running |
|
33 |
22 |
19 |
Elliott Sadler
|
Dodge |
Dodge Dealers / UAW
|
64/0 |
153 |
Running |
|
34 |
8 |
29 |
Kevin Harvick
|
Chevrolet |
Shell / Pennzoil
|
66/5 |
147 |
Running |
|
35 |
19 |
43 |
Bobby Labonte
|
Dodge |
Pillsbury / Cinnabon
|
63/5 |
137 |
Running |
|
36 |
13 |
8 |
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
|
Chevrolet |
Budweiser |
55/0 |
134 |
Running |
|
37 |
30 |
66 |
Jeff Green
|
Chevrolet |
Haas Automation
|
52/0 |
131 |
Running |
|
38 |
6 |
20 |
Tony Stewart
|
Chevrolet |
The Home Depot
|
49/0 |
125 |
Running |
|
39 |
23 |
96 |
Tony Raines
|
Chevrolet |
DLP HDTV
|
46/0 |
120 |
Running |
|
40 |
29 |
14 |
Sterling Marlin
|
Chevrolet |
Waste Management
|
43/0 |
114 |
Out of Race
|
|
41 |
39 |
10 |
Scott Riggs
|
Dodge |
Valvoline / Stanley Tools
|
40/0 |
105 |
Out of Race
|
|
42 |
28 |
41 |
Reed Sorenson
|
Dodge |
Target |
37/0 |
103 |
Running |
|
43 |
2 |
11 |
Denny Hamlin
|
Chevrolet |
FedEx Kinko's
|
39/5 |
99 |
Running |
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