Sprint Cup Series – AMP Energy 500

Jamie McMurray won a wild one Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway!

A major crash on the final lap will have NASCAR sorting out the finishing order.

Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR

McMurray ended an 86 race winless streak. It’s his 3rd career win.

“Yeah, whenever I got out front and Matt (Kenseth, Roush-Fenway Racing teammate) was behind me and we were riding single file, then it got two wide, then it got three wide,” McMurray said. “You know, I was really fortunate that it was Matt behind me.  Because when you’re the leader and they get two or three wide, there is always going to be a row that’s faster.  It might carry you into turn one, but by the time you get into turn three, that won’t be the fastest row, there will be another one. I just stuck with whatever lane Matt was in.  And Matt’s car was fast enough to get back to me before someone would pull up in front of me.  The 88 did pull up in front of me at one point, and I got a huge run.  I got by him, and I got right back up in front of Matt. So really, Kenseth put me where I was at the end and kept helping me out, kept helping me out.  It takes a little bit of luck to be in that position.  Certainly you can think all you want which lane you need to be in, but you’ve got to have someone behind you that’s willing to help.  When it’s your teammate and a friend, it makes a big difference.”

McMurray is odd-man out at Roush-Fenway Racing.  NASCAR has regulated a 4 car cap per racing organization leaving Roush to drop the #26 team.

‘Well, certainly being able to win is not going to hurt my chances at getting another ride,” McMurray said. “There’s not a lot of rides available right now. I think that everybody knows that what rides there are out there.”

“You know, certainly if a sponsor were to call me, that would make it a lot easier with the amount of teams that are shutting down.  There are not a lot of options out there, so I think everyone knows the cars that are available right now. For me, I just hope that we can get it, you know, signed and announce it whenever they want to so that it will make it a little bit easier to sleep at night.”

Photo Credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR

NASCAR announced a new rule during the drivers meeting early Sunday stating there would be no bump-drafting in corners. Any driver failing to observe the new rule would be penalized immediately. Fans were hurt in the grandstands after Carl Edwards was in a nasty accident at Talladega earlier this year. Bump-drafting is the biggest key to advancing position on the big 2.66 mile oval. NASCAR deemed it unsafe while drivers call it a necessary move to use to try to win the race. Over more than half the race, drivers ran around the track single file prompting the announcers to wonder if it made racing at Talladega boring. Business picked up with less than 20 laps remaining.

“Yeah, I felt fine with it, really,” runner-up Kasey Kahne said regarding the new rule. “I think down the straightaway you could still get up behind a car and push really hard and build that speed up, that mile per hour and then get off in the corners.  I don’t think there’s anything wrong with pushing in the corners, but I think they went there because the speeds went up so much. Myself and Hamlin hooked up on Friday, and we went about .6 faster than the people drafting, or .5 at the time of the main drafting group or even more than that point.  So they just didn’t want to see that.  But you could still do it on the straightaways, which was fine, I think.”

What did you think of NASCAR’s call to limit bump-drafting at Talladega?

“I think when all these cars are bunched up and things, it’s just one little move by one car, and the other guy moves the other way to block or just to go in another gap and that closes, then you have those wrecks,” Kahne said. “That’s just this type of racing.  And I think everybody understands that. It’s happened at Daytona plenty of times.”

Kahne is one of just three Chase contenders that were able to get out of Talladega with a top-10 finish. Greg Biffle has been credited with a 4th place finish while Johnson was eventually listed with a 6th place finish. NASCAR spent more than a half hour determining the finishing order.

“I mean, we go through this every year,” Johnson said as he answered the media after the race. “You guys try to find new ways to have us answer the same question about the restrictor plate racing. Yeah, we have the steering wheel, gas pedal, brake pedal and all that kind of thing.  But until somebody really has a chance to sit in these cars and understand how tough it is, it’s easier to say these things from the outside.  Inside the car we’re racing.  We’re doing our thing.  We mind our manners during the race, single file, and everybody was probably disappointed in that. Then we get racing in the end, and you have the big wrecks.”

“The only way we avoid this, if anybody wants to avoid these big wrecks and this type of racing, is to eliminate the need for restrictor plates.  That means get the tractors out and knock down the banking.  We have to let off in order to avoid this. At the end of the day, the restrictor plate is still here because it’s a good show for the fans.  So at some point when the fans dislike it, I guess we’ll make a change, and we won’t have this stuff.  But until then, we’re a product of what the fans want to see.”

Ryan Newman was caught up in a 5 car accident on lap 185 of the originally scheduled 188 lap race. Newman had to be extracted from his car, but was able to remain in constant radio contact with his team.

“When I hit the roll cage and landed on my head, I was a little worried,” Newman said. “I was happy to be able to walk out of that, in a roundabout way.”

The accident also involved Tony Stewart, another Chase contender. The race was red-flagged for 12 minutes and 34 seconds. Many drivers were concerned with running out of fuel when the time came to restart their cars. Jeff Gordon ran out of gas and had to have a tow truck push him to pit road.

Soon after the restart, another multi-car accident was triggered which ended the race under caution. Chasers Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya were among the 13 drivers in the crash.

There were 6 cautions for 23 laps and 58 lead changes among 25 drivers:  0; M. Martin 1; Kurt Busch 2-8; C. Edwards 9; D. Reutimann 10; C. Edwards 11; D. Reutimann 12-16; J. Gordon 17-21; C. Mears 22-41; D. Earnhardt Jr. 42; E. Sadler 43-46; J. Burton 47; R. Newman 48; T. Stewart 49; M. Waltrip 50-51; E. Sadler 52-57; D. Hamlin 58; E. Sadler 59; D. Earnhardt Jr. 60-61; D. Hamlin 62; K. Harvick 63-88; D. Earnhardt Jr. 89; J. Montoya 90; K. Harvick 91; M. Martin 92-97; M. Ambrose 98-99; D. Hamlin 100-105; J. Andretti 106; D. Hamlin 107-108; R. Gordon 109-110; J. Burton 111; J. Gordon 112-113; R. Gordon 114; J. Logano # 115; D. Earnhardt Jr. 116-118; D. Hamlin 119; Kyle Busch 120-122; R. Newman 123-124; Kyle Busch 125; J. Burton 126; J. Gordon 127-130; D. Stremme 131-135; B. Keselowski 136-139; J. Andretti 140; B. Keselowski 141-143; J. Gordon 144; K. Harvick 145; M. Truex Jr. 146; K. Kahne 147; E. Sadler 148; J. Montoya 149-150; J. Burton 151; J. McMurray 152; M. Ambrose 153; J. McMurray 154-167; D. Earnhardt Jr. 168-169; J. McMurray 170-175; D. Stremme 176-180; J. McMurray 181-191

For the (unofficial) race results, click here.

Jimmie Johnson’s lead in the standings has now increased to 184 points over the 2nd place driver, Mark Martin.

“I’m not going to let up and lose focus to the job I need to do and allow the championship to be in the forefront of my mind until it’s mathematically locked out,” Johnson said. “I can lose 165 points next week if I miss a shift and blow the engine at the start of the Texas race and mark has a perfect day.So with all that in mind, yes, I am feeling much better about things.  I was so concerned about this race.  I thought I was going to lose points with about three or four to go.  So to have it turn around and lead with points over the guys, I didn’t expect it.  Very, very good situation we’re in. But I just can’t stop doing what I do.  How the team does their thing, how we prepare, and let that in until there is no chance because racing doesn’t have any feelings.  Racing will reach up and bite you at any point and anything can happen. So we’re in a better position, for sure.  Our strategy might change some moving forward until we’re we can get to Homestead.  But we’ve just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing and try to close this thing out as soon as possible.”

Just 3 races remain in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

The action continues next Sunday, November 8th at Texas Motor Speedway. TV coverage begins at 2:30 on ABC.