Jamie McMurray and the No. 26 Crown Royal team took a gamble near the end of the race that paid off with their second top-10 finish in two weeks. Crew Chief Larry Carter made the call to pit when no one else came down pit road. The gamble paid off and the team was rewarded with their fifth top-10 finish of season.
Pole winner Jimmie Johnson led the field of 43 cars to the green flag at 2:21pm, before a crowd of over 100,000 fans at Pocono Raceway. McMurray started from the 41st position. Throughout most of the afternoon, the No. 26 team moved up the board as high as 20th, but wasn't able to make a charge to the front.
When the caution flag came out again on lap 137 for a wreck off turn two, crew chief Carter had a plan. On lap 139, Carter summoned a hesitant McMurray down pit road for what would be a two tire and fuel stop. During the stop, Carter called for four tires. The Crown Royal pit crew reacted to the call and moved to the left side to change two additional tires. McMurray exited pit road in the 35th position, and at the time, unsure with the call to pit.
As the racing continued on, Carter knew the No. 26 team would only have to pit one additional time to make it to the scheduled distance of 200 laps, and that most other teams on pit road would have to pit twice. On lap 155, the leaders began coming down pit road for scheduled pit stops. McMurray remained on the track and eventually was scored as the leader; earning the team five additional points.
On lap 170, Carter called McMurray back down pit road for four tires and fuel. After exiting in the 21st position, it was left into the hands of McMurray to make it to the end. And as the laps counted down, drivers ahead of McMurray dove down pit road for a splash of fuel to make to the end, but not the No. 26 team. With just 10 laps remaining in the event, McMurray was scored 14th. During the final lap of the race, McMurray took the white flag from the 13th position, and was able to pick up four more positions on the last lap to finish ninth.
“We certainly didn’t have the best car out there today, but we made the most of our finish,” said McMurray following the race. “Larry and Derek (Stamets) made a great call to pit when no one else came down pit road. After the call, I was pretty upset because it looked like it was going to rain, and I felt we gave up a lot of track position, but when the skies cleared and we only had to pit one more time, I knew that Larry had made the right call. We took a gamble this afternoon and it paid off in a top-10 finish for this Crown Royal team.”
In an afternoon marred by tire problems, the No. 26 Crown Royal team rose above the obstacle to finish a season-best sixth place. The No. 26 Crown Royal Ford Fusion piloted by Jamie McMurray, qualified in the top 10, and took the checkered flag in the top-10 position. This finish moved McMurray to 20th in the Sprint Cup point standings.
During practice on Saturday afternoon, Sprint Cup teams realized they could not go more than four or five laps on new tires before they began to show significant signs of wear.
On Sunday, before a crowd of more than 200,000 fans, the green flag flew for pole winner, and eventual race winner, Jimmie Johnson.
After two competion yellows for tires, Larry Carter came over the radio and told McMurray, “we need to finish today’s race. I think we are in a good position, and if we can maintain our track position, and save our car, I think we can come out of here with a good finish. There are a lot of unknowns this afternoon, but if we all work together, we can make the most of today, and show a good finish this afternoon.”
The problems continued for all the teams – the tires would not hold up after 12 laps of green-flag racing.
The No. 26 team continued to follow the instructions of NASCAR by coming in every 12 laps and taking on new tires. Occasionally, Carter would call for two tires, and others it would be four tires and fuel. Regardless of the call made in the pits, the No. 26 Crown Royal pit crew stuck together and knocked out some of their fastest stops of the season.
“It’s just frustrating this afternoon,” said McMurray following the race. “They said the track was getting better in happy hour, but we didn’t see that and it never really did take rubber. I got really mad in the middle because they were letting us run until the tires were blowing up and I’m like, ‘You can’t put us in that situation.’ You’ve got to throw the caution before we blow a tire because if someone gets hurt, we could have prevented that. Thankfully, they let us run about 12 laps and they’d throw the caution. Just about every time the caution would come out, the lap before I’d be like, ‘I’m done. Here it is.’ That’s an odd way to race. In the end, it was a great afternoon for this No. 26 team and for Crown Royal.”
Matt Crafton raced to a 7th place finish in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Quaker Steak & Lube 200 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Friday, his 4th top-10 finish this season and fifth consecutive at Lowe's.
Note: Readers have requested more stories about people other than Dale Earnhardt Jr. , Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, et al. Well if you want that, then you have to let me know you are reading these stories about other lesser known drivers. Comment please. LET ME HEAR YOU! LOUDER!
"On the last restart, I had a good run on Mark (Martin), but he blocked me on the bottom," Crafton said. "Both of us had to roll out of the gas a little bit so we didn't wreck, and it cost me a couple of spots. If we'd have been racing for the win, it would've been a different story, but it wasn't worth wrecking for a couple of spots. We're a little disappointed, because we definitely felt we had a top-5 truck, but that's the way this sport is. Sometimes, you have an awesome truck and maybe don't have a strong finish to show for it, and other times you're fortunate to finish well when you don't have your best truck. All in all, we'll take another top-10 finish and run with it."
Jimmie Johnson rallied from the back to the rear bumper of Kevin Harvick’s No. 29 Chevrolet, but couldn’t get any further as Harvick held off Johnson to win the NASCAR Nextel All-Star Challenge at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and $1 million first prize.
“It was an awesome race,” said Johnson, a two-time all-star race winner. “ We were close. We had some problems in the beginning of the night that really hurt our track position. "To be able to come to the back and work our way to the front and race for the win. I’m very proud of this team.”
Johnson appeared to have a car capable of running with Harvick after he finally passed Mark Martin for second place. But lap after lap, Harvick hugged the bottom of the track, forcing Johnson to go high in an attempt to pass.
“The track didn’t really have an outside groove until late. I may have made up some more ground if I had got up to the top (of the groove) a little earlier,” Johnson said. "I tried on the last lap and it finally was there. In the beginning of the race the outside groove really wasn’t working. I hope that’s not the case come next Sunday night (in the Coca-Cola 600).”
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