Current Column Updated July 25 at
MCMURRAY CLAIMS BRICKYARD 400
By Gerald Hodges/the Racing Reporter
“When Kevin got by me with just a few laps to go, I thought it was over,” said McMurray. “My car was real tight, but he gave me the outside on the restart, and that was what I needed. I was better at the end.
“With 10-laps to go my crew chief said, “Do what you’ve got to do and don’t worry about those other guys.”
McMurray became only the third driver in series history to win both the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same year. The other two drivers were Dale Jarrett (1996) and Jimmie Johnson (2006).
His win also gave
team owner Chip Ganassi his first Trifecta; a win in the Daytona 500, Brickyard
400, and
McMurray’s teammate, Juan Montoya started on the pole and led 86 laps. During a caution period late in the race, Montoya’s team elected to put four fresh tires on his car, while most of the other teams only took two.
When Montoya returned to the track he was eighth. Then on lap 143, he spun out of control and hit the outside wall. As he slid down the track, Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran into him, putting both cars out of the race. Earnhardt finished 27th, while Montoya was 32nd.
Second-place finisher, Kevin Harvick is still the points leader.
“I got tight going
into the corner and I had to wait on my car, and Jamie was able to use the
momentum he had to get by me,” said Harvick. “My car never acted like that
again. We had a top-5 car, and we had a chance to win, but couldn’t quite make
it happen.”
Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart, Jeff Burton, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, and Kurt Busch were the remaining top-10 drivers
Top-20 Chase contenders after 20 of 36 races. Note: Only the top-12 drivers will be in the final 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. 1. Harvick-2920, 2. J. Gordon-2736, 3. Hamlin-2660, 4. Johnson-2659, 5. Kurt Busch-2658, 6. Kyle Busch-2630, 7. Burton-2615, 8. Kenseth-2573, 9. Stewart-2544, 10. Edwards-2496, 11. Biffle-2462, 12. Bowyer-2446, 13. Martin-2384, 14. Earnhardt-2353, 15. Newman-2299, 16. McMurray-2295, 17. Kahne-2290, 18. Reutimann-2269, 19. Logano-2241, 20. Truex-2145
KYLE BUSCH BESTS EDWARDS IN NATIONWIDE
There was no controversial finish in last Saturday night’s Nationwide
series race, but for the second week
race in a row, Carl Edwards went side-by-side for the lead on the final lap,
but Kyle Busch held Edwards off to win the Kroger 200 at the 0.686-mile track.
Last week at Gateway International Raceway, Edwards dumped Brad
Keselowski coming to the checkered flag, triggering a multicar accident and
forcing NASCAR to penalize both drivers.
This time, Edwards raced Busch cleanly, and Busch grabbed his 38th
career Nationwide Series victory, second only to Mark Martin on the
all-time win list. Martin has 48 wins in the series.
Edwards and some others on the lead lap pitted for fresh tires on Lap
162, with Edwards restarting 11th with 28 laps to go. Edwards sliced through
the top-10 to get to second, and a caution came out with six laps to go.
On the green-white-checkered restart, Busch got the jump on Edwards
into Turn 1, though Edwards tried to get to the inside lane on the white flag
lap and on the final lap. But Busch was up to the task. He led four
times for 144 laps.
Ron Hornaday, who won Friday night's Camping World Truck Series race
here, ran in the top-five for most of the race until he and the lapped car of
J.C. Stout got together in Turn 2 on Lap 161, and he finished 28th.
Aric Almirola, Trevor Bayne, Reed Sorenson, Brendan Gaughan, Justin
Allgaier, Brad Keselowski, Paul Menard, and Steven Wallace were the remaining
top-10 finishers.
Top-10 points leaders after 20 of 35: 1. Keselowski-3189,
2. Edwards-2989, 3. Allgaier-2691,
4. Kyle Busch-2681, 5. Menard-2505,
6. Harvick-2434, 7. S. Wallace-2338, 8. Gaughan-2277, 9. Bayne-2205, 10.Leffler-2161
HORNADAY IS INDY TRUCK WINNER
Ron Hornaday snapped a 22-race winless streak in the Truck Series on
Friday night, winning the AAA Insurance 200 at O'Reilly Raceway Park in
Top-10 points leaders after 12 of 25: 1. Bodine-1861,
2. Almirola-1684, 3. Sauter-1679,
4. Hornaday-1649, 5. Peters-1649,
6. Dillon-1584, 7. Crafton-1583,
8. Skinner-1574, 9. Starr-1528,
10. White-1493
EARLY NASCAR DRIVER PASSES
Earl Brooks of
Lynchburg, VA passed away last week.
His life story proves that
not all the winners see victory lane. In his 262 race Cup career, Brooks never
got to the checkered flag first, but the man still played an important part in
NASCAR history.
Brooks began competing in NASCAR Grand National Racing in 1962, with
most of his starts coming between 1967 and 1971, while Richard Petty, Bobby
Allison, David Pearson and Bobby Isaacs were trading paint.
But that is not his real claim to fame.
Perhaps he will be best remembered for the way he offered help to the
lone African-American to win a top series NASCAR race, Wendell Scott. Brooks
and Scott traveled together, shared tools and shared parts. At a time when
doing such a thing wasn’t so fashionable, Brooks and Ned Jarrett were a big part
of keeping Wendell Scott competitive.
Brooks also owned cars driven by Dave Marcis, Ed Negre, and Dick May
among others. He was known as the “Earl of Lynchburg,” hailing from that
Not all winners get trophies, and not everyone who gets trophies is a
winner. Earl Brooks, in his own understated way, was a champion.
Weekend Racing: The Sprint Cup and Truck teams will be at
the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway in
Sat., July 31, Camping World Truck Series race 13 of 25;
Starting time:
Sat., July 31, U. S. Cellular 250 Nationwide Series race 21
of 35: Starting time:
Sun., Aug. 1 Sprint Cup
Racing Trivia
Question: Who was the 2005 Sprint Cup champion?
Last Week’s
Question: Who was the winner of the inaugural Brickyard 400? Answer. Jeff
Gordon won the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994.
You may contact the Racing Reporter at: hodgesnews@earthlink.net
Jamie McMurray winner
of the 17th Brickyard 400