| | | | | | TOOK NO CHANCES | McMurray plays it safe to secure top-10 finish | |
| | Jeff Gluck / SceneDaily.com Jamie McMurray thought it was meant to be.
It was Father’s Day, and McMurray’s Roush Fenway Racing Ford sported a big “Thanks Dad” message on the hood as a tribute to his father, Jim.
Jim McMurray’s name was even written over the passenger-side window, a symbolic ride-along between father and son.
And here was McMurray, running up front and dueling with eventual winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. with four laps to go in Sunday's LifeLock 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway.
“I thought, ‘This is incredible,’” Jamie McMurray said. “We’ve worked out pit strategy to where this is going to work out, and it would have been very special for [sponsor] Crown [Royal] and my dad and I.”
But Penske Racing's Sam Hornish Jr. spun out in Turn 4, and a caution threw a wrench into McMurray’s plans.
McMurray and crew chief Larry Carter were then faced with a decision: Try to stretch their fuel through a green-white-checkered finish and risk a 25th-place finish, or pit for gas and secure a top-10.
They chose the latter, and McMurray rolled home with a 10th-place finish – his second in the last three races – to move to 21st in points.
“We were going to make it, I’m pretty sure,” McMurray said. “But ... we ran out of gas at Sonoma last year [and finished 37th], so to finish 10th versus gambling and maybe running out is not worth it. So Larry made a good decision.”
Had Hornish not spun, McMurray was in good shape to contend for the win. He was trying to both save fuel and race Earnhardt Jr., and the two swapped the lead in the final laps as McMurray ran low and Earnhardt Jr. ran high.
“We should’ve just challenged for the win there with the way the fuel strategy worked out,” he said. “The 88 car and I would’ve had a great race. But I guess Hornish spun out and brought the yellow out, and then we didn’t know how long it was going to be under caution. So we came in.”
Up until that point, McMurray had been saving fuel during what appeared to be the final green-flag run to the checkered flag. He ran a hard 10 laps, then began saving gas for 30-plus laps until the caution came out.
“My car was just was balanced so good that it would just go, even at half-throttle,” he said. “...It’s still a solid day.”
| | Posted June 16, 2008 , 10:32 pm EST
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