Races at the Talladega Superspeedway are much different from those at
other tracks and when the dust settled on the Amp Energy 500 on Sunday
afternoon, Jamie McMurray stood proudly in victory lane after taking his
third-career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory.
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Race winner Jamie McMurray, Roush Fenway Racing Ford celebrates. Photo by Action Sports Photography.
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Talladega is known for its multi-car wrecks referred to as the "big
one," but although the Amp Energy 500 did have two late-race wrecks,
neither one decimated the field. NASCAR officials laid down the law to
the drivers beforehand, attempting to minimize bump drafting. Also, a
smaller restrictor plate was used for the first time.
At times, the racing was wild and at other times, it was not. A number
of drivers thought the race turned into a boring one.
McMurray was just one of the 27 race leaders but once the Missouri
native took command on the 154th lap, he wasn't to be denied, even
though others made brief passes of the Irwin Marathon Ford fielded by
Roush Fenway Racing.
For McMurray, he won for the first time in 86 races. His most recent
victory took place at the Daytona International Speedway in July 2007
and his first occurred during his 2002 rookie season at the Lowe's
Motor Speedway.
Ford broke its 30-race winless streak. The noted manufacturer opened
the season when Matt Kenseth won the first two races, but hadn't been
to victory lane since then. Overall, Ford has amassed 595 Sprint Cup
victories.
"Anytime you come to Talladega, you seem to have a 50:50 shot at
finishing one of these races, and fortunately we rode around the back
at the beginning after getting wrecked in the spring race," the winner
said.
"With 80 to go, we made our way to the front," McMurray added. "It was
hard to make progress when the cars would get two and three wide, and I
just happened to get lucky to be in the right lane at the right time.
When teammate Matt Kenseth came up behind me, he was a huge help; if it
had been someone else, they would hang you out. "It has been a long time
since I won, and I can't believe it is here again."
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Jamie McMurray, Roush Fenway Racing Ford leads the field. Photo by Getty Images.
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Hanging around the back of the field didn't seem difficult for McMurray,
who was joined by point leader Jimmie Johnson. "Jimmie (Johnson) usually
makes the right decisions, so I just rode around, even though it was
hard to do. I used a little patience, too, and were able to get to the
front when I needed to."
McMurray allowed that he was fortunate not to get into too many shoving
matches as he was in the front as the race wound down.
The winner admitted that he was low on the fuel at the end, but he had
enough to finish the extra laps race while others weren't as fortunate.
"As soon as I crossed the finish line, I shut the engine off, pushed the
clutch in and coasted around as far as I could. What an exciting day!"
The race distance had to be extended to allow safety workers to clean up
the track after Ryan Newman was involved in a scary wreck with five laps
to go, setting up a green-white-checkered flag finish.
Newman was uninjured but the race had to be red-flagged to safely remove
him from his over-turned Chevrolet. The wreck started when Newman's
teammate Tony Stewart and three others came together on the backstretch,
sending Newman's car into several somersaults and skidding across the
hood of Kevin Harvick's car along the way.
In addition to Newman, Harvick and Stewart, Elliott Sadler and Marcos
Ambrose were also involved.
Said Newman of the crash, "I got hit, went sideways, got up in the air
and kept flipping and flipping. Unfortunately, the roll cage came down
on top of my head, and I couldn't get out of the car."
Newman thought the race had been very boring until then and took issue
with the rigid rules mandated by the officials.
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Ryan Newman, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. Photo by Richard Sloop.
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The race restarted on the 189th lap and green-flag conditions only
lasted one lap before Mark Martin got hit and turned over landing on his
wheels.
Chase contenders Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya ran out fuel along
with others during the over-time period, allowing Johnson to vault from
mid-pack to an impressive sixth-place finish.
Johnson, who ran toward the rear of the field until the closing laps,
went into the race with a 118-point advantage in the Chase for the
Sprint Cup Championship and he exited Talladega 184 points ahead of
Martin. Gordon is in third place 192 behind and Montoya holds down
fourth place 239 in arrears.
"I thought we were in trouble for being conservative all-day long, but
what kept us in position was Chad's (Knaus) decision to come to pit road
(before the last restart) and take on fuel," said the Chase leader.
"This finish is all Chad."
Regarding the commanding point lead, Johnson said, "I am very high, as
I thought I was in trouble while in 25th place during the red flag, but
then the guys in front of me started running out of gas. It was an early
Christmas for me."
Kasey Kahne had to start in the rear of the field after a pre-race
engine change, but the Dodge driver set a blistering pace to secure
second place at the end. "We had a great-handling car, we were pushing
very hard," the Washington state native said. "I was in the right place
at the right time. Without bump-drafting, you have a tough time being up
to speed, but it worked out in our favor."
Rookie Joey Logano advanced his Toyota from seventh to third in the
final laps. "It sure was wild and exciting at the end," the teenager
said. "I was waiting to see who was going to make the first move. I
pushed No. 9 (Kahne) and he was pushing the No. 26 (McMurray). With one
more lap, you don't know what may have happened."
McMurray's teammate Greg Biffle took fourth place ahead of Jeff Burton.
Sixth through 10th were Johnson, Michael Waltrip, Talladega Spring race
winner Brad Keselowski, Sadler, and Bobby Labonte.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., who led laps and ran with the leaders for an
extended period, brought his Chevrolet to 11th.
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Mark Martin, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with damage after his crash. Photo by Getty Images.
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Chase contenders far down the finishing order were Carl Edwards in 14th,
Montoya 19th, Jeff Gordon 20th, Martin 28th, Kurt Busch 30th, Stewart
35th, Newman 36th and Denny Hamlin 38th.
Busch and Martin were involved in the final crash when Busch was bumped
by another car, tagging Martin, who flipped over.
Said Martin of the incident, "I don't know what happened; it was just a
wreck."
Gordon, who ran out of fuel, was not pleased with the outcome. "We ran
out of gas, which was unfortunate. Luckily, we got back out there, but
it was just like running into a beehive, knowing something was going to
happen. We were just trying to get the best finish we could."
Three races remain in the 2009 season and the NASCAR contingent travels
to the Texas Motor Speedway next weekend.
