1.            (7) Kevin Harvick No. 24 Chevrolet   

RICHMOND, Va. (September 10, 2011) – The No. 1 Bass Pro Shops team headed to Richmond looking to improve on the string of strong performances over the last month, and started the weekend with an impressive front row starting spot in qualifying on Friday afternoon.  Jamie McMurray led several laps early in the Wonderful Pistachios 400 and would eventually bring the Honoring our Heroes Chevrolet home with a 14th-place finish.

With two practice sessions on Friday afternoon the Bass Pro Shops team knew that they would have a car that would be competitive in race conditions on Saturday night.  The front row qualifying effort was a pleasant surprise to the team, crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion told McMurray after qualifying “this was just one of those days where everything goes the way it should”.

McMurray would take advantage of the strong qualifying effort by pacing the field for several laps in the early going of the caution filled race, as the pace was slowed a record-tying 15 times.  The No.1 team worked to make adjustments on the handling of the Bass Pro Shops car as conditions changed during the race.  McMurray was caught two laps down when the caution flag came out on lap 247 just after pitting under green conditions, however the No. 1 team would battle back and finish on the lead lap in 14th-positon. 

McMurray commented following the race, “We had a really good car again tonight, I think we were better than where we finished.  We were really good on long green flag runs. I think we could have gained a few spots if we hadn’t got caught laps down on that caution.  Our team has made a lot of gains over the last several races and we just need to keep that momentum.” 

• McMurray remains 25th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings

• McMurray had an average running position of 9th in the Wonderful Pistachios 400

• The No. 1 team paid tribute to the Heroes of 9-11 by displaying a piece of debris from the World Trade Center site in the pit box on Saturday night presented to McMurray by Frank Siller, brother of fallen firefighter Steven Siller

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will make its next stop at Chicagoland Speedway for the Geico 400 September 18th at 2:00 p.m. (EDT) on ESPN and MRN radio affiliates.