Jamie McMurray leaving Roush "Rumor" stories continue to be picked up by Jayski and run on his news stories page indicating there is still interest in the subject. So at the risk of running the story in the ground, as a Jamie fan I am continuing my series of posts on the matter. Just say uncle if you have had enough of them. If your interested in continuing to follow the story, just continue to leave positive (or at least neutral) feedback and I 'll keep posting them.
Dave Rodman at NASCAR.com has published the typical story regarding Jamie's denials. What surprises me is that Dave writes like he actually believes Jamie with very little appearance of "Doubt" in his story or even a little "tongue in cheek."
"Friday at Pocono Raceway, Jamie McMurray adamantly took himself out of the Silly Season mix -- at least for the rest of this season. Last weekend as the Sprint Cup Series competed at Dover International Speedway, published reports citing unidentified sources had McMurray, one of five Cup drivers at Roush Fenway Racing, either opting out of his contract or that it would be discontinued."
Adamant? The rest of the season? Say it ain't so Dave. Surely you are not 100% convinced.
In my book there is at least a 15% to 20% chance that Jamie is leaving Roush this year. If Greg Biffle signs with Roush again, make those odds 20% to 25%. And if Tony Stewart leaves Gibbs Racing, make them 25% to 33%. Those are getting to be pretty good odds. And if we talk 2010 the odds are at least 33% to 50%.
"McMurray wouldn't speculate about why the stories were written and that neither he nor anyone affiliated with him had made inquiries to other teams about driving opportunities. He didn't want to talk about any of it."
When your being asked to publicly discuss business deals that are better kept private it is a good idea not to want to talk about it. Doh!
CONCORD, N.C. -- It took Matt Crafton 178 starts to snare his first Craftsman Truck Series victory. It took about 35-crash filled laps at Lowe's Motor Speedway to set the unlikely win in motion.
Crafton took advantage of the mistakes and ill behavior of others to drive his Menard's Chevrolet Silverado to victory in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200. Crafton's victory was his first in 177 NCTS starts, the longest stretch any driver has gone before winning his first race in the series.
Crafton held off Chad McCumbee in a green-white-checkered finish to score his historic win in a wild night of racing.
"Finally, we can shut them up," Crafton said. "Now they can say, 'When's the next one coming?
With the win Crafton moved up from seventh to fourth in the points race.
1. Ron Hornaday 874 Leader
2, Rick Crawford 865 -5
3. Todd Bodine 836 -38
4. Matt Crafton 829 -45
5. Dennis Setzer 817 -57
A fierce battle for second ended with Germain Racing's Todd Bodine third in the point standings, spinning points leader Ron Hornaday just past the start-finish line at the entrance to Turn 1. An angry Hornaday limped home 23rd and took umbrage with Bodine, who finished 12th after being penalized for rough driving.
"He just flat tried to kill me," Hornaday said. "You don't spin somebody out on the straightaway. Life is too short to have an #### like that."
Bodine said he didn't mean to cause Hornaday to wreck.
"I was just trying to help him," Bodine said. "And now I look like a goat."
McCumbee was followed by Brendan Gaughan who finished third.
Erik Darnell was leading late in the race but spun his tires in the night's second-to-last restart, recovering to finish fourth. Rick Crawford finished fifth. Hornaday leads the series points race, by five over Crawford.
Dennis Setzer finished seventh and slipped to fifth in the points behind Crafton.
History shows Dennis Setzer (No. 18 BHR-V Dodge) as the only North Carolina-born driver to win a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in Charlotte.
Setzer, from Newton, N.C., won in 2004 and is the only Tar Heel winner in NASCAR national series points competition at Lowe's Motor Speedway since Dale Jarrett's UAW-GM Quality 500 victory in 1997.
That's a far cry from earlier eras when names like Petty, Baker, Parsons and Earnhardt dominated.
The birth of the Craftsman Truck Series in 1995 aided the rush of non-southern and off-oval competitors into the sport. Only one champion -- the late Bobby Hamilton -- was born south of the Mason-Dixon line.
Edwards Staying On, Jamie Wants ToRICHMOND, Va. -- Carl Edwards is staying at Roush Fenway Racing, signing a multi-year contract to drive the No. 99 Ford.
"I signed my contract [Thursday], so I'm staying with Roush," Edwards said just after exiting his car at practice on Friday at Richmond International Raceway. "I looked at everything and I talked to everybody and, for me, the No. 1 thing is looking into the future and saying, 'Where can I win the most races and have the most success?'"
Team owner Jack Roush said the deal was a three-year contract.
"What we had hoped for was more than that, but what my understanding was the last time I knew what was on the table was that it was a three-year deal," Roush said.
"A guy would be crazy to leave Roush Fenway Racing and go somewhere else," said teammate Jamie McMurray, who didn't know about Edwards' contract status until Friday afternoon when a reporter brought it up. "I'm sure there were offers everywhere and probably very appealing. But I can't imagine a guy like that wanting to leave when you're having the success that you are."
Greg Biffle is happy where he's at. And why not? That tiny mole hill that kept him out of the Chase for the past two seasons has signs of dwindling away.
Ask him about when it was that his team finally got over the hump and he won't point to his victory this past fall at Kansas. He talks about the 2007 races at Dover and Phoenix when he finished second.
"A lot of things have changed at Roush Fenway," Biffle said. "One is having Robbie Reiser as competition director, that has really helped all the teams."
Biffle said last week he's confident he will re-sign and stay in his position at Roush, but that he's not in a hurry to get a new contract signed. He clarified that statement, noting he's not "panicked" about any deadline.
"My 100 percent intent is to work out an extension with Roush," Biffle said. "I want to stay at Roush Fenway until I retire. They know that.
Dennis Setzer, usually the optimist, didn't mind having to wait to back up his Martinsville win of a month ago. It's nice to get back in the truck while you're hot, but with the series having its longest break of the season, it's OK to carry that "champion" label for a while.
"It's not so bad to have that layover if you just had a good race," the Bobby Hamilton Racing-Virginia driver said.
But there are layovers and then there are sabbaticals. Sprint Cup has three weeks off all season; the Craftsman Truck Series just had three weeks off in a row. Teams found opportunities to test, take time off, rinse and repeat. To say they were eager to get going with Saturday evening's O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 was an understatement -- especially with two more off weeks looming after Kansas.
Setzer failed to finish Saturday night after an accident on lap 126 resulted in his being credited with a 25th place finish. However, the spot was good enough to maintain his 4th place position in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points standings.
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