1.      (20) Tony Stewart No. 14 Chevrolet

                   

Loudon, N.H. (September 25, 2011) – The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series headed to Loudon, N.H. for the second race of the 2011 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and appeared that events may be hindered by rain for the second consecutive weekend.  Fortunately the intermittent showers on Friday and Saturday gave way to warm temperatures and sunshine on Sunday.  The No. 1 Chevrolet, sporting the special paint scheme of AXE Cool Metal started in the 25th-position and came home with a 23rd- place finish for the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.  

Race day track conditions were drastically changed from practice and qualifying sessions on Friday and Saturday after rain moved through the area.  Teams would face the challenge of uncertain handling once the green flag waved.  The No. 1 team made several aggressive chassis changes on the AXE Cool Metal Chevrolet in the early stages of the 300 lap event.   Once the team had the car handling more to the driver’s liking, McMurray began to run some of the fastest lap times in the field, however  they were unable to catch a break with a timely caution to improve their track position and would ultimately cross the finish line in the 23rd-position.

McMurray commented after the race, “If we had been able to catch a timely caution near the end we may have been able to get our lap back and have a chance to race for position with the other cars on the lead lap.”  We had a few long green flag runs to start the day and that caught us in the back early and set the tone for the day.”

• McMurray is currently 27th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points

• McMurray ranked fourth among all drivers at NHMS for fastest laps run setting the pace for the fastest lap 20 times

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Dover Speedway for the AAA 400 on October 2nd at 2:00 p.m. EDT and will air on ESPN and MRN radio affiliates.