McMurray led 30 laps in the race there a year ago, gambling on a fuel strategy that faltered when he came up two laps short as his car ran dry while leading the race. Now, he's hoping to take that momentum all the way in Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the Sonoma, Calif., road course.
“Sonoma is a race that has been circled on my calendar all season long," he said. "Last year, I thought it was our race to win; we were so fast the entire day. When we took the fuel gamble late in the race, it was a big gamble that did not play out in our favor. I was so disappointed following that race. This past weekend in Michigan we faced the same issue late in the race – take the gamble or come in and pit for a safe finish. We opted to come in, and it paid off with a top-10 finish for our team."
"Last year was so much fun after we won the pole, and then to run as well as we did, it was great," McMurray said. "This weekend we have to focus on making sure the car is balanced throughout the course, make sure our brake package is where it needs to be, and finally, we need to have good pit strategy. If we can make all of that happen, I think we’ll have a great weekend at Sonoma.”
Jeff Gordon was named the first quarter winner of the 2007 Driver of the Year award. Gordon led the Nextel Cup Series points after the first eight races with only two finishes lower than fourth. Gordon had four poles, one win and three second-place finishes in the voting period.
RICHMOND, Va. – Jeff Gordon is on a roll and the only thing that may prevent it from continuing this weekend is his recent struggles at Richmond International Raceway. Gordon has won the past two Nextel Cup races and Hendrick Motorsports has won the first three races utilizing the “car of tomorrow” this season. The four-time champion has also opened up a 203-point lead in the points standings over second-place Jeff Burton. But entering tonight’s Jim Stewart 400 (7:30 p.m., Fox), Gordon has not finished better than 30th in his past four races at the track.
“I’ve liked this track and I’ve run well here in the past, but we’ve had such major brake issues the past four races. We’ve improved the aerodynamic, horsepower, grip over the last couple years that we’re going so much faster,” Gordon said. “For some reason, trying to maintain that speed throughout the race has caused used us, more so than some other guys, some major brake issues. “Not that we’re running out of brakes or don’t have enough brakes, we are building up pad on the rotor and it creates a vibration. The last three or four times we’ve been here, all I’ve had is a vibrating brake pedal and we could never work on the car.”
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