Posted: Monday, 26 July 2010 4:56AM
McMurray Wins Brickyard 400, Gives Ganassi "Triple Crown"
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (Sports Network) - Jamie McMurray made racing history for team owner Chip Ganassi on Sunday by winning the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
McMurray gave Ganassi the "triple crown" of American oval racing this year, as Ganassi became the only owner to win the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same season.
Dario Franchitti took Chip Ganassi Racing into victory lane for the May 30 Indy 500, while McMurray won the February 14 Daytona 500 in his first start with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.
"I'm speechless," Ganassi said. "I'm lucky and privileged to be in this business. I am honored to work with the people I work with. That is all I can tell you. I'm the luckiest guy on the planet. You wouldn't dare dream this, you wouldn't dare to dream this kind of year. That is the kind of year it has been."
McMurray took the lead for the first time when he took two tires and exited the pits first during the last round of stops on lap 140. But Harvick moved around McMurray and claimed the top spot just before Juan Pablo Montoya got loose and slammed into the wall. Montoya then slid down the track and collected Dale Earnhardt Jr., forcing the sixth and final caution.
After the final restart with 11 laps remaining, McMurray passed Harvick and took the lead for good. He finished 1.4 seconds ahead of Harvick to become the third driver to win the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 in the same season. Dale Jarrett first accomplished the feat in 1996, followed by Jimmie Johnson in 2006.
"It's unbelievable," McMurray said. "We didn't have the best car. When Kevin got by me a few laps from the end, I thought it was over. Our car was a little tight. With 10 laps to go, just do what you've got to do. Don't worry about those guys. It's just an awesome day; it's unreal right now. How about Chip winning the [Indianapolis] 500 and both of these big [NASCAR] races? We're just a great team right now."
For the second year in a row, McMurray's teammate, Montoya, had the dominant car at Indy, as he led 86 of 160 laps. But Montoya's late-race accident again cost him a bid at becoming the first driver to win both the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400.
"I thought well I won the [Daytona] 500 and Dario won the [Indianapolis] 500 and then Juan is going to win this race," McMurray said. "I really thought this was his day, but it just shows you that you never give up and you just drive your heart out every lap."
Montoya led just before the final round of stops, but his crew chief, Brian Pattie, elected to put four tires on Montoya's car, while the other leaders took just two tires. Montoya restarted in seventh, but fell back in the field before his incident.
"Bad call; crew chief error," Pattie said. "We should have taken two tires."
Montoya, who finished 32nd, did not comment after the race.
Last year, Montoya led 116 laps, but lost the race after he was penalized for speeding on pit road. He finished 11th.
Greg Biffle finished third, while Clint Bowyer and Tony Stewart rounded out the top-five.
Jeff Burton, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, who won Saturday's Nationwide race at nearby O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, Joey Logano and Kurt Busch completed the top-10.
Earnhardt Jr.'s late-race crash led to a 27th-place finish.
With his second-place finish, Harvick increased his lead to 184 points over Jeff Gordon, who finished 23rd.
"We took a gamble there at the end to take two tires," Harvick said. "On the first restart, it took off great. We were able to run Jamie down and pass him. The second restart, it didn't take off so great. It just got tight. He drove around the outside of me."
Johnson fell short in his attempt to win a third-straight Brickyard 400. Johnson, the four-time defending series champion, struggled with his car throughout the race and wound up finishing 22nd.
"We had high expectations for the day, but I just had a really bad understeer problem on the corner entering into the center," Johnson said. "We made some attempts during caution flags to make some big changes on pit road, but nothing really hooked the car up, so we'll have to dig in and find out what happened."
Story Copyright 2010, Reuters
Photo Copyright 2010, Getty Images
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