Team News

McMurray Comes Home with Top-20 Finish at New Hampshire

June 28, 2010

McMurray Comes Home with Top-20 Finish at New Hampshire

Results from New Hampshire Motor Speedway
1.     Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Chevrolet
2.     Tony Stewart, No. 14 Chevrolet
3.     Kurt Busch, No. 2 Dodge
18.   Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Suave Chevrolet
34.   Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Chevrolet

 

LOUDON, N.H. (June 28, 2010) –  Jamie McMurray and the No. 1 Suave Team traveled to New England and New Hampshire Motor Speedway this past weekend looking to build on the top-15 finish from Sonoma, one that moved them up two places to 16th in the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) point’s standings.  McMurray and team would struggle to find the needed speed to make their way through the field once the green flag dropped, but would continue to battle throughout the 301 laps on Sunday afternoon at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.  The team would get the most out of their car, bringing home an 18th-place finish.

Coming to New Hampshire after a week filled with Media and Team commitments, including attending the Coke Zero 400 Media Day at Daytona on Tuesday, June 22 with three-time and defending Bassmaster Classic Champion Kevin VanDam.  The day involved multiple media events including McMurray and VanDam fishing with media and karting with media on the track’s infield lake and karting track.  McMurray then turned his attention to Earnhardt Ganassi Racing’s sponsor summit on Wednesday, June 23.  The driver made an appearance at the summit, speaking with sponsors about his team’s year thus far and taking pictures with all in attendance.  He would then travel to Loudon, looking to build upon his gaining of two spots in the points after a hard fought finish in Sonoma.

The No. 1 Suave team unloaded their machine on Friday and felt pretty confident that the car had plenty of speed in race trim.  Turning to qualifying trim towards the end of practice, the team would soon realize that they had some work to do on their Chevrolet.  McMurray would go out 15th for qualifying and put his Suave Chevrolet in the 27th position for the start of Sunday’s event.  With two practice sessions scheduled for Saturday, Crew Chief Kevin “Bono” Manion looked forward to finding more speed and making McMurray’s car handle better. Following final practice on Saturday, the team felt like they had found something that would make their car a contender for Sunday’s race. 

The green flag dropped Sunday afternoon and McMurray was slowly making his way through traffic.  At a track that doesn’t provide great passing opportunities, other than on green flag restarts, McMurray found himself capable of working his way up a couple of spots prior to the first pit stop on lap 36.  Complaining of slight handling issues, the team would go to work making slight chassis adjustments and air pressure adjustments.  By lap 100, McMurray had worked his way inside the top 20, and looked to continue gaining positions.  By the midway point of the race, McMurray was poised to crack the top-15, working his way up to the 16th spot.  However, his car’s handling would start to fall off around lap 230, complaining that “I just don’t have the grip I need, and the handling seems to have fallen off sooner than it did during the last run.”  With a combination of long green flag runs and pit stops, the team would have to fight to stay on the lead lap.  However, the long green flag runs finally caught up to them, and the team would go down one lap.  They would continue to battle for the best finishing position and McMurray would bring his Suave Chevrolet home in the 18th position.

The finish dropped McMurray one spot in the 2010 NSCS point’s standings, now sitting 17th and 121 points out of 12th, the cutoff for the Chase.  While the finish dropped him one position in the point’s standings, McMurray is actually 21 points closer to the 12th position. 

Next weekend the No.1 Team will travel back to the site of their season’s high point, Daytona International Speedway, the site of their Daytona 500 Victory back in February.  McMurray will attempt to become the fifth driver in Daytona history to sweep both NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events in the same year. Only Fireball Roberts, Cale Yarborough, LeeRoy Yarbrough and Bobby Allison have been able to complete the sweep of the Daytona 500 and the mid-summer classic in the same year.  The Coke Zero 400 is Saturday, July 3 with the green flag set to drop at 7:30pm ET on TNT and radio stations affiliated with MRN.