Lost in all of the hub bub about the bout between Juan Montoya and Kevin Harvick was the fact that the mistake made by by Martin Truex Jr. when he bumped Montoya cost Jamie McMurray a chance at a good finish at Watkins Glen as well.
From: JaimieMcMurray.com
Jamie McMurray entered Sunday's race as a pre-race favorite to win – and for good reason; McMurray posted top-four speeds in each practice leading into the race. McMurray and the No. 26 team took a fuel gamble early in the race that looked as if it would play out in their favor as the race wore on. The strategy was working for the No. 26 team and by lap 66, Jamie McMurray had moved into the 10th position. However, following a caution on 68, McMurray restarted in the eighth position.
As the field entered turn one, a wreck occurred ahead of the No. 26 car. McMurray was caught between Juan Pablo Montoya and Kevin Harvick. McMurray turned hard to the right but was unable to avoid the spinning No. 29 car and was clipped hard in the left rear end. The damage was severe and forced McMurray to pull his car into the garage to repair the battered No. 26 machine. After returning to the track in the 37th position, McMurray was able to gain three additional positions before finishing 34th in Sunday's race.
"It just seems that no matter what this Crown Royal team does, we can't seem to buy a break," said McMurray following the race. "It's really hard to believe that we haven't finished better than we have over the last four weeks. I thought we were going to pull out a top-10, maybe a top-5, but again we were caught in a wreck. There was nothing I could do today, and I thought we had made it all the way through, but we were caught in the left side. I really enjoyed racing here today and was really hoping for a better finish. We will have to look forward to next week at Michigan and the week after that in Bristol."
The No. 26 team returns to Michigan International Speedway next weekend for the 3M Performance 400. In their last outing at the two-mile speedway, the Crown Royal team posted a top-10 finish.
Clean meant green Wednesday night as Ryan Newman’s crew hammered out four straight penalty-free stops in 24.66 seconds or less to win the NASCAR Nextel Pit Crew Challenge at the Charlotte Bobcats Arena. In the final against Bobby Labonte’s team, Newman’s crew posted a 24.66-second time. Labonte’s No. 43 Dodge crew also ran clean, but finished second in 24.99 seconds as a crowd of about 6,000 cheered both teams on.
U.S. Army Crew Soldiers Into Final Four
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (May 17, 2007)
The No. 01 U.S. Army pit crew advanced to the semifinal round in Wednesday night's Nextel All-Star Pit Crew Challenge at the Bobcats Arena in Charlotte. The 01 team beat the No. 31 (Jeff Burton), No. 26 (Jamie McMurray) and No. 07 (Clint Bowyer) NASCAR teams in the competition before getting edged in the semifinal round by Bobby Labonte's No. 43 team.
Bobby Ginn has been planning to expand his operation to four cars since before this season started. Bobby Ginn talked to DEI during the past season about a working agreement with DEI that would have had them field four cars together. Instead, Ginn put his own three cars on the track and has built a team as good as, if not better than DEI, in only one year. Would he like to have Dale Earnhardt Jr. as his fourth driver? You bet your sweet bippy.
"Ginn Racing, the three-car organization owned by Florida real estate developer Bobby Ginn, ... plans to make an underdog play for Earnhardt. Jay Frye, the team's general manager and minority owner, is a St. Louis native who once worked at Anheuser-Busch, Budweiser's parent company, and has close friends within the Busch family. The team also has Mark Martin, whose near-miss in the Daytona 500 and repeated top-10 runs in Ginn's flagship No. 01 car gives the operation needed credibility when pitted against other Chevrolet squads with multiple championships. Their sales pitch: look at the potential, and what you could help build."
"'Mark was aware of how fast our cars were every week. Drivers know,' Frye said. '[Earnhardt] is a smart guy. He knows what's in the garage. He knows who the people are that we have here. He knows whether he'd be comfortable here or not. He wants to compete for wins every week and run for a championship. Have we done that? No, we haven't. Do we think we can? Yes. Are we building to do that? Yes. Could he help us do that? Sure. But it might not be where he wants to come help, he wants to do it now. I don't know. We haven't talked. He may not want to talk to us. I don't know.'"
I think Ginn is a long shot. But he is a go getter. That's for sure. Look at the equipment he gives Mark!
But is it the best fit for Dale? I don't know. I don't quite see it. Richard Childress Racing still looks like a better fit to me. The strength of Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer this year are awfully big arguments to go with Childress, given that Hendrick Racing doesn't appear to have a seat open.
However, I hope he listen's to what Bobby Ginn has to say...and considers the new smile this year on Mark Martin's face.
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.”
RICHMOND, Va. -- Clint Bowyer won the race off pit road with about 28 laps to go Friday night and easily went on to his fifth career Busch Series victory (watch video). Matt Kenseth dominated much of the latter part of the race, but pitted along with the other leaders after the final caution flew on Lap 223. Kenseth came out fifth, behind Bowyer and Jeff Burton, after a mishap with the jack on Kenseth's right side. Burton was third, followed by Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch.
Scott Wimmer was the top "Busch Guy" with a tenth place finish for Richard Childress Racing as a late replacement for Timothy Peters. Regan Smith was the second True Busch Racer with his 15th place finish for Ginn Racing. Shane Huffman in the No. 88 U.S. Navy Chevrolet was third in 18th while Jon Wood and Bobby Hamilton Jr. were fourth and fifth in 21st and 22nd respectively.
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