News

May 10, 2009 1:44 PM

McMurray Finishes 22nd at Darlington on the Lead Lap Despite Late-Race Obstacles

DARLINGTON, SC (May 9, 2009) – Darlington Raceway is known as a track that is “too tough to tame,” and for this weekend’s activities at the historic raceway celebrating it’s 60th anniversary, Jamie McMurray and his No. 26 Crown Royal team hoped to secure another solid performance. At a track that seems to wreak havoc on many team’s race results, Saturday night’s Southern 500 found many victims throughout the 500 miles including that of McMurray and the Crown Royal team. After spending two-thirds of the race solidly in the top five, a blown tire with 100 laps to go, started a string of challenges for the No. 26 team and knocked the Crown Royal Ford back to a 22nd-place finish.

Due to the condensed track schedule for the weekend, McMurray and his team had two back-to-back practice sessions on Friday afternoon before qualifying. A majority of the practice time was spent focusing on race set-ups in order to ensure McMurray had the handling he would need Saturday night. Darlington has two different corners and is known as an egg-shaped track. Teams also know that usually at some point throughout the weekend, most cars will leave Darlington with a “Darlington Stripe” along their right side which happens following contact with the wall, but McMurray survived all of Friday’s track activities without a scratch along his car.

The Crown Royal Ford had successful practice sessions Friday and following a rain storm, McMurray qualified 20th for the Southern 500 after he was the first car out on the track after inclement weather passed through the area.

Saturday night’s 367-lap event began at 7:36 p.m. EST and McMurray began the race focused on finding the line that best suited the Crown Royal Ford. During the opening laps, McMurray radioed in to crew chief Donnie Wingo that the car was a bit free on entry, but by lap 20, the No. 26 machine had already moved up to 15th. Wingo called his driver down pit road for the team’s first pit stop of the race on lap 23 for two new right-side tires and fuel. The stop allowed McMurray to claim five spots on the leader board as he restarted tenth on lap 25.

Things seemed to be looking good for the Crown Royal team, and over the next series of runs, McMurray and his team found themselves making slight adjustments to the car’s handling. The Crown Royal Ford continued to chip away at the race leaders and by lap 98, McMurray was in fifth.

Wingo called for another two tire pit stop on lap 187 for tires and fuel only after McMurray had told his team over radio communications that the “car is the best it’s been all night right now.” Once again the quick stop was aimed at gaining a position or two to the race leaders on pit road, and the plan worked, as McMurray restarted third on lap 190.
The Crown Royal Ford spent 55 laps in third, but the tides began to turn following a routine pit stop on lap 251. The team serviced the car with four tires and fuel but just a few laps following the restart, McMurray radioed in that the car was suddenly very loose.

The caution flag came out on lap 277 and McMurray radioed in to Wingo that the car had no brakes after a left rear tire had blown. The Crown Royal Ford limped around to pit road as the team checked out the damage to the left rear tire well. The team was able to clamp off the brake lines and repair some of the damage to the left rear of the car, but the Top-three finish for the night faded away as McMurray found himself restarting 23rd. Even with the bad luck of the blown tire, McMurray was still on the lead lap and by lap 328, he had driven his way up to 12th. But unfortunately, bad luck hadn’t found the last of the No. 26 team for the night. McMurray happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time as the No. 83 blew a tire and pushed McMurray into the wall. The damage to the right front of the car caused an alignment issue with the car’s steering.

The Crown Royal pit crew repaired the car the best they could, and McMurray restarted 23rd on lap 347 and was able to gain one more position before the checkered flag waved.

“This was such disappointing night,” said McMurray following the race. “Our Crown Royal Ford was really driving well for the first two-thirds of the race tonight and our whole team was really working hard to make sure things were working right. We just had some bad luck out there towards the end of the race. We cut a left-rear tire down. It just went flat and exploded and ended up knocking off the brake line, but we got it fixed. I was able to get all the way back up to 12th before the No. 83 cut a tire down and sandwiched me into the wall. After all that, the car just didn’t drive very well and we just fought to get whatever we could out of the night.”

Mark Martin won Saturday’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway making it his second win of the season and 37th of his career. Martin held off teammate Jimmie Johnson who finished second while Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top five finishers Saturday night. McMurray finished 22nd and despite the challenges of the evening, gained one position in the driver point standings as he moved up to 24th.

Next weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Lowe’s Motor Speedway for the Sprint All-Star Race which is a non-championship points event. Pre-race television coverage begins on Saturday, May 16th at 7:00pm EST on SPEED. Radio coverage will be provided by the Motor Racing Network.

NEXT UP:
Sprint All-Star Race
Lowe’s Motor Speedway (1.5-mile speedway)
Charlotte, NC
Saturday, May 16, 2009

More Headlines

PHOTO BOOK

NESN.com

VISIT THE ROUSH FENWAY RACING PAGE

on The New England Sports
Network (NESN.com) for more of the latest news on your favorite Roush Fenway teams.

VISIT TODAY >>