Nascar Race News!» Jamie McMurray

Roush Running on All Cylinders

Journo — Tue, 17 May 2011 05:21:37 +0000

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A New NASCAR Season Spawns Hope, Optimism and Nervousness

Bob Zeller — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 17:40:00 +0000

Filed under: Jamie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, NASCAR Testing, Sprint Cup, Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing, NASCAR, Charlotte Motor Speedway

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. -- Painted high on the walls of the sprawling setup room at the Stewart-Haas Racing team shop here are inspirational quotes from Winston Churchill, Thomas Paine, Lyndon B. Johnson and Vince Lombardi, among others, as well as Satchel Paige, the legendary African-American baseball player who made his name as a pitcher rather than a great politician or statesman.

Yet it is Paige's quote -- "Don't look back, something might be gaining on you" -- that seems to best typify the dead-of-winter mood in the race shops scattered around the greater Charlotte area.

Nearly all the teams and drivers are once again filled with hope and enthusiasm, but everyone has to be wondering nonetheless how their season will play out. Will they be competitive right out of the box? Have other teams gained some kind of a little advantage?

"It's just who made the bigger gains" during the off-season and preparing for 2011, said Tony Stewart as the annual Charlotte Motor Speedway media tour, with some 200 media members in attendance, made a stop at his Kannapolis shop Monday afternoon for a visit with him and teammate Ryan Newman.

Chip Ganassi, co-owner of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, echoed the thought earlier Monday during a luncheon with the team. Although both of his drivers, Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya, won races in 2010, "there are lots of places we can improve," he said. "You're looking at that all the time. It's a constant process of looking at yourself and looking at the team."

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Indy 500, Daytona 500 Champs Headline Ganassi’s Rolex 24 Lineup

Holly Cain — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Filed under: Jamie McMurray, Daytona Int'l Speedway, Other Racing Series, IRL

For the first time in the history of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the reigning Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500 winners will team up to campaign in the twice-around-the-clock sports car endurance race that kicks off 2011 Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway.

Indy winner Dario Franchitti and Daytona winner Jamie McMurray headline one of the most impressive driver lineups in all of motorsports, sharing driving duties in Chip Ganassi's No. 02 TELMEX-Target BMW with two-time IZOD IndyCar Series champ Scott Dixon and Formula One-turned-NASCAR star Juan Pablo Montoya for the Jan. 29-30 Grand-Am Series season opener.

Ganassi's No. 01 BMW will be driven by reigning Grand-Am Series Daytona Prototype co-champs Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, the team's newly-signed Indycar driver Graham Rahal and sports car veteran Joey Hand, giving Ganassi a formidable lineup in his quest to win a fourth Rolex 24 at Daytona title. His team became the first in history to win three consecutive times (2006-08) and has finished runner-up the last two years.

Ganassi's eight drivers have won a combined 12 series championships, eight Rolex 24 at Daytona titles, one Daytona 500 and four Indianapolis 500s victories.

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Jamie McMurray Wins Bank of America 500 at Charlotte

Bob Zeller — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 23:27:00 +0000

Filed under: Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

CONCORD, N.C. -- Jamie McMurray battled past Kyle Busch on the final restart of the Bank of America 500 Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway and won his third race of the year, stealing the thunder of the drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

McMurray added the Charlotte fall race to his impressive non-Chase record of 2010, which also includes victories in the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400.

Busch finished second after dominating the race and leading 217 of the 334 laps. But Busch had to hold off a determined challenge in the final laps from Jimmie Johnson, who finished third.

Johnson's finish gave him a 41-point lead over Denny Hamlin at the halfway point in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

Denny Hamlin finished fourth, followed by Greg Biffle.

"As I was catching Kyle at the end of the race, when the caution came out, I really wasn't sure whether we had enough speed to outrun him the last 25 or 30 laps," McMurray said. "But the car was unbelievable those last 25 or 30 laps, it was effortless to drive and it had a lot of speed."

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Jamie McMurray Wins Nationwide Race at Atlanta

Bob Zeller — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 21:24:00 +0000

Filed under: Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Nationwide Series, NASCAR

Jamie McMurray continued his spectacular season on the racetrack with a victory in the Nationwide race at Atlanta Motor Speedway Saturday night -- his first in the series in six years.

McMurray jumped into the lead on the final restart and stretched his advantage to about one second before giving up most of that at the end, taking the checkered flag about five car lengths ahead of Kyle Busch.

The official margin of victory was .286 of a second.

It was McMurray's eighth victory in the series, but his first since 2004. And it denied Busch his 11th win of the season, which will be a record if he achieves it.

Carl Edwards was third, followed by Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth.

McMurray, driving for Dale Earnhardt Jr's JR Motorsports, led 48 laps on his way to a win in a stellar season that also includes victories in the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"It was a really good day and Dale Jr. gave me a great opportunity to drive this car," McMurray told ESPN in victory lane. "Man, it's cool to win one of these races. It feels really good going into the (Sprint Cup) race tomorrow."

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Changes Unlikely Among Top 12 NASCAR Drivers for Chase

Bob Zeller — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:32:00 +0000

Filed under: Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

Four NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers are hovering at or near 13th place in the points standings, hoping to claw their way up into the 12-driver Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff beginning Sept. 19 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Don't shift to the edge of your seat just yet, however. With two races to go before the Chase cutoff, all four drivers -- Jamie McMurray (at left in photo), Mark Martin, Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne -- are just too far back to have a reasonable chance at catching up.

It's not impossible, mind you. But if any of them do it, they will set a record for emerging from the deepest points hole ever to make the Chase.

Clint Bowyer (at right in photo) is on the bubble in 12th, and he won't be breathing easy for the next couple of weeks, even though he can take some comfort in the relatively large size of his 100-point lead over McMurray. Martin is 101 points back, while Newman trails by 118 points. Kasey Kahne, in 16th place, is 136 points behind Bowyer and realistically has no chance at all.

'Well, it's a little bit of a cushion," Bowyer said after finishing fourth at Bristol in the most recent Sprint Cup race. "But we've just got to keep doing what we're doing. If we do that, I don't think they can catch us. We've got two races to go. Two good race tracks -- I love Atlanta, run well there, and I love Richmond, run well there. With any luck at all, we'll be in this thing."

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Ask The Insiders Wednesday #87

Journo — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 06:01:39 +0000

It’s back to the Irish Hills this week as NASCAR rolls into Michigan International Speedway and inches closer to the start of the Chase. But before we head to Brooklyn (Michigan that is), it’s time to answer your questions! If you don’t know what this post is, we answer any and all reader questions every Wednesday, right [...]

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McMurray Making Roush, Truex Look Bad

Journo — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:36:19 +0000

And in turn making Chip Ganassi, Johnny Morris and Kevin Manion look pretty good. Since returning to his old home at Ganassi Jamie McMurray looks like a new man. Just past the halfway point of the season he has won (or almost won) the three most prestigious events on the NASCAR schedule. McMurray’s got two [...]

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Chip Ganassi Makes More Racing History at Indianapolis

Motorsports FanHouse — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 01:19:00 +0000

by Holly Cain

Filed under: Jamie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, NASCAR

SPEEDWAY, Ind. -- Soaked in champagne and still grinning from ear to ear, NASCAR team owner Chip Ganassi was walking over to a Corvette convertible for his second victory lap around Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the last two months when Tony Stewart stopped him in his tracks.

They shook hands, shared a laugh and Stewart, NASCAR's only owner-driver, patted Ganassi on the back, offering his congratulations.

"That was a moment between car owners,'' Sunday's fifth-place finisher Stewart said with a smile and a nod. "Can I appreciate what he's done here? Oh yeah.''

What he's done is make history as the first team owner in auto racing history to win the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR's Brickyard 400 at Indy in the same season. But it came with a twist.

One of Ganassi's drivers, Juan Pablo Montoya, dominated practice, qualifying and most of the early race until crashing with 15 laps to go Sunday while his other driver, Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray beat Kevin Harvick on the ensuing re-start, held off the field for 11 laps and ultimately delivered the triumph to Ganassi instead.

In all, Ganassi drivers led a race-best 102 of the event's 160 laps, but McMurray's 16 laps out front (including five earlier in the day) is the second fewest ever for a winner. Not that it matters.

"To win all those (races) in one year is remarkable,'' Harvick said of Ganassi's organization. "It will probably never happen again.''

Chip Ganassi Makes More Racing History at Indianapolis originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 25 Jul 2010 20:19:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jamie McMurray Wins Brickyard 400

FanHouse Staff — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:36:00 +0000

Filed under: Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

Jamie McMurray's crew gave him only two tires on his final pit stop, but that turned out to be the key to victory in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday.

McMurray was able to use his outside position to get past leader Kevin Harvick on the final restart with just a few laps to go.

"It's unbelievable," McMurray said in victory lane. "We didn't have the best car. But we made the right call with two tires. It's unreal right now. It was a really good day."

Harvick was second, followed by Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer and Tony Stewart. Jeff Burton was sixth, followed by Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Kurt Busch.

The victory gave the Daytona 500 winner his first victory in NASCAR's biggest race of the summer, and gave car owner Chip Ganassi an unprecedented triple crown, with victories in the Daytona 500, the Indy 500 and now the Brickyard 400 in 2010. Ganassi is the first car owner to win both of Indy's big races in the same year.

"How about Chip winning the 500 and both of them?" McMurray said.

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