McMurray and Irwin Vise-Grip Ford Finish 14th at Sonoma
June 22, 200910:24 AM
Sonoma, CA (June 21, 2009) – The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series visited the first road course of the 2009 season this weekend when the series traveled west to Sonoma California, home to Infineon Raceway. Jamie McMurray, driver of the No. 26 IRWIN VISE-GRIP Ford Fusion looks forward to the road course events throughout the season, and this weekend’s activities were no exception. His team brought a brand new race car to the course and spent the weekend’s allotted practice sessions working on the car’s handling for the challenging 11-turn course. McMurray and his team found their strategy not aligning with the race’s cautions, at a track where fuel mileage and pit strategy come into play more often than normal, and were challenged all afternoon to make up valuable track position. After 113 laps of racing, and a green-white-checkered finish, McMurray and his No. 26 IRWIN VISE-GRIP Ford left Sonoma Sunday evening with a 14th-place finish.
The IRWIN team began the weekend’s practice session Friday with a car that had “great grip, but was incredibly tight” according to McMurray. The team made several adjustments during Friday’s lone practice session to free up the car a little more before qualifying. McMurray posted the 23rd fastest lap during qualifying which found the team feeling a bit disappointed, but determined to come up with a few more remedies before Sunday’s race.
Under sunny skies and temperatures around 75 degrees Sunday, the green flag waved at 2:22p.m. PST for the SaveMart 350. McMurray and his IRWIN VISE-GRIP Ford rolled off from 23rd and within the first lap, the No. 26 machine jumped up to 15th on the leader board. Just five laps later, McMurray claimed the 14th position and focused on the challenging course at hand. During lap nine however, McMurray’s silent focus was broken as he radioed into crew chief Donnie Wingo that the car was “losing all its grip.” Despite the status update to his team, McMurray was able to claim two more positions as he drove his way into 12th on lap 16. The IRWIN Ford continued to be loose, and Wingo assured his driver to “be smooth and focus on the course” and that they would make adjustments in due time.
The first caution of the race came early on during lap 21, and Wingo decided to stay out and not have his driver visit pit road. The strategy was a move targeted at gaining the No. 26 Ford some positions to the race leaders. The move allowed McMurray to restart in eighth on lap 25. Wingo called his driver down pit road for their first stop of the afternoon on lap 29 for four tires, fuel, and an air pressure adjustment under green. The stop found McMurray cycle back to 34th, but by lap 49 he had driven his way into 21st. The IRWIN VISE-GRIP Ford continued to plague McMurray with loose conditions, but Wingo assured his driver that they had a pit strategy in place.
A caution on lap 53 once again found McMurray staying out and not visiting pit road under the yellow flag. Instead, McMurray restarted in 15th back in the position he was at the start of the race. Wingo called his driver to pit road for two more routine four-tire stops over the course of the next 20 laps where the only adjustments made to the car, were air pressure changes.
Despite the air pressure adjustments and the focus on fuel mileage and pit strategy, McMurray fought a loose-handling car until the checkered flag waved after 113 laps. A green-white-checkered finish led to three extra laps of racing, but the No. 26 team didn’t have the cautions fall to their benefit Sunday afternoon. Instead, McMurray fought hard to drive his Ford Fusion to a 14th-place finish at Infineon Raceway.
“This was just a frustrating afternoon for us today,” said McMurray following the race. “We just had a really loose car all day and unfortunately we never had the cautions and pit strategy fall our way when we needed them. I wish we could have had a better finish today for our IRWIN VISE-GRIP team, but it sure was a wild race.”
Kasey Kahne won Sunday’s SaveMart 350 at Infineon Raceway as he held off Tony Stewart to snap a 37-race winless streak. Stewart finished second and was followed by Marcos Ambrose who blew a motor in Saturday’s practice session and had to start at the back of the field. Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five finishers Sunday afternoon, while McMurray drove his IRWIN VISE-GRIP Ford to a 14th-place finish.
Next weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series travels New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the Lenox Industrial Tools 301. Pre-race television coverage begins on Sunday, June 28th at 1:30p.m. EST on TNT. Radio coverage will be provided by the Performance Racing Network.
NEXT UP:
Lenox Industrial Tools 301
New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1.058-mile speedway)
Loudon, NH
Sunday, June 28, 2009
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