In a three hour and 55 minute battle at Dover International Speedway, Jamie McMurray and the No. 26 IRWIN Industrial Tools team pulled together to earn their eighth top-10 finish of the season. After coming close to going a lap down on lap 203, being caught in a wreck on lap 228, and avoiding a huge late-race wreck on lap 385, McMurray posted an eighth-place finish at the "Monster Mile.”
Trouble struck for McMurray on lap 203, as he was racing the No. 42 machine of Juan Pablo Montoya. McMurray’s car was hit from behind as he exited turn two, sending McMurray spinning down the backstretch. McMurray was able to keep his car off the wall and out of trouble. Quickly, the No. 26 team was on pit wall and ready to change the tires, as McMurray knew he had at least one tire going flat. In an effort to maintain their position on the lead lap,Crew Chief Larry Carter calledMcMurray down pit road for left-side tires. On the ensuing lap, Carter called McMurray back down pit road for right-side tires. And two laps later, Carter radioed McMurray again down pit road for additional service to the car. During the final stop, the team pulled out the fenders and added tape to the right-rear quarter panel. McMurray returned to the race track in the 15th position and on the lead lap thanks to the heads-up call from Carter.
Following a restart on lap 361, McMurray noted the handling on his race car was still too tight, but felt like he could continue and maintain his position. On lap 385 a large wreck started off of turn two as the No. 2 car hit the outside retaining wall and came back down onto the track, gathering up 10 cars in the aftermath. McMurray, with the help of his spotter, avoided a number of spinning race cars and debris scattered all over the track. After the dust settled, McMurray found himself in the 11th position.
After the final restart of the race on lap 397, McMurray was able to work his way around the No. 20 race car, and was able to pass two additional cars before the checkered flag was flown on lap 400. McMurray improved 22 positions from the start of the race to the finish.
“I’m really proud of how hard all the guys on this No. 26 IRWIN Industrial Tools team worked this afternoon,” said McMurray after climbing from his Ford Fusion after the race. “The car started out great and then towards the middle of the race, it was everything I could do to stay on the lead lap and keep the car out of the wall. We threw a lot of things at this car and in the end, we were the ones who missed all those wrecks and were able to finish in the top 10. Needless to say, it was a long day, but we hung in there and came out with a pretty good finish.”
The Coca-Cola 600 was only a 75 mile show for a dozen or so Nextel Cup drivers on Sunday. As the 43-car field rounded the 1.5-mile oval on Lap 52 of 400, the tire tread from Jimmie Johnson's car flew across the track. As the cars around him slowed to avoid the debris, a chain reaction occurred, causing a melee down the frontstretch.
“All I saw was the tire flying,” said Juan Pablo Montoya, who returned to the race after extensive repairs to his car. “I managed to slow down my car but I just get pushed from behind by Kasey Kahne and that was it.”
David Gilliland saw the same thing. “I just saw a piece of tire come up and everybody started wrecking,” he said. “On the restart everybody is kind of bunched up and everybody is just super-close and it’s too bad." Gilliland was struck from behind pushing the #38 into the car in front of him causing severe damage to both the front and rear of the M&M’S / Shrek the Third Ford.
"We just didn't have anywhere to go," said Sterling Marlin. "We were on the outside and our Pep Boys Chevy got shoved into the wall. There was nothing anyone could do."
Marcos Ambrose retains his eighth position in the overall Busch Series Standings overall and his second place standing in the Busch Class. He also maintains his tight tussle with ex-Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year competition. Montoya finished one place ahead of Ambrose last Friday night.
Ambrose ran comfortably inside the top 15 for the first half of the race. The two-time Australian V8 Supercar Champion dropped down the order slightly in the flurry of late-race pit stops and once among the battling on the verge of the top 20 he was unable to forge a break and get back up the order. Ambrose encountered a close shave on the final lap of the race as he avoided a series of clashes that culminated in his Wood Brothers/JTG Racing team-mate Jon Wood crashing when he was left no where to go when cars spun on the track.
“We were running well and felt good in the early part of the race,” said Ambrose. “It shows some of the progress we have been making that we can qualify in the top ten and run well on a one-mile oval like Phoenix. This is a tough race track and it was a tough field out here today. It certainly felt good running around with all the Cup guys in the first part of the race. "We ran well, showed some speed and we kept our spot in the standings."
Marcos Ambrose sits eighth in the NASCAR Busch Series standings after a tough day in the O’Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas Saturday. Ambrose was classified as 31st in the #59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion after a trying day ended in a crash with Raybestos Rookie of the Year rival Juan Pablo Montoya exiting turn two with 21 laps remaining. The crash put both cars out of the race. Ambrose was quick to walk to Montoya’s pit to apologise for the incident. The Australian was battling with a broken front shock absorber and was attempting to reach the finish with the ill-handling car when the two came into contact as Ambrose drifted wide as the two ran side-by-side.
“We had a long day out there today,” said Ambrose. “With about 70 laps to go we broke a front shock and we were struggling a little bit. From there we were just running around trying to get to the finish.
“I went and said sorry to Juan Pablo and he was good about it. Unfortunately for him he was having a good race but had problems of his own that set him back before we got caught up. “We were both running to get to the finish and unfortunately my car wasn’t handling very well and I got up a bit high, we touched and that was it. I feel bad for it and it wasn’t intentional, but that sort of thing happens sometimes.
Ambrose fell from first place in the "Busch Class" to second as a result of the accident with Montoya. Bobby Hamilton Jr. took the points lead among "Busch Guys."
This blog is a copy of two of my responses, one to JayJayDean and one to photographer on JayJay's blog. O.K., I admit it. I am a bit conceited. I think these responses are decent enough to merit their own blog. But more than that I wanted to save the info where I could find it later.
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DAMN IT I CAN"T STAND NO PICTURES ON MY BLOG. FILE OR NOT
1. Ward Burton 2. Kyle Busch 3. David Gilliland 4. Kevin Harvick 5. Matt Kenseth 6. Reed Sorenson
These are Nextel Cup regulars that run only the companion Busch events which in my mind is the pure definition of a Buschwacker. Let's call them Type I wackers.
Then there are those that are at least more honorable in that they are running all Busch Series events so that they could be termed Nextel and Busch regulars. Let's call them Type II wackers.
They include;
1. Greg Biffle 2. Dave Blaney 3. Carl Edwards 4. Juan Pablo Montoya 5. David Ragan 6. David Reuttiman 7. J. J. Yeley
Adding all of the Type I and Type II wackers together gives you 13 Nextel Cup drivers that make up the majority of the wackers by running Busch races roughly 85% of the time.
Then add the 12 Busch regulars and you have the typical 25 cars you normally see in Busch races. The remaining 18 cars are pretty much field fillers whether they are "Mexican" road racers or "American" oval racers.
photo,
The fact that there are 13 wackers discourages decent mid-level racers from running the Busch series, so they go run trucks. That is what leaves approximately 18 local field fillers that run Busch that at best might be qualified to run trucks regularly. You take these 18 to Bristol and you get a wreckfest.
This is why NASCAR needs to
1) Allow the top 35 from the previous season to run a full Nextel Cup Season. 2) Have a qualifying school in January for the other 8 positions and you are in all year. 3) Do not allow Nextel Cup drivers to run Busch. 4) Increase Busch Purses to add more incentive for regular truck drivers to run Busch.
Then and only then will we have a healthy Busch series.
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