History Made As McMurray Wins Brickyard 400
by Dan Margetta
7/25/2010

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Speedway, Ind., July 25 - In a history making day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Jamie McMurray drove to his first victory in the Brickyard 400, giving team owner Chip Ganassi wins in what has become the trifecta of prestigious American motorsports events, becoming the first owner to capture victories in the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500, and Brickyard 400 in the same season.

"It's unbelievable just an awesome day, it's unreal right now ", McMurray beamed from victory lane after a call from the pits to change just two tires during a debris caution period on lap on lap 139 gave him the track position needed to outrun Kevin Harvick and Greg Biffle during a ten lap dash to the finish following a final restart after teammate Juan Pablo Montoya's day ended with a trip to the turn four wall on lap 147.

For the second consecutive year, Montoya drove the dominant car in the event, leading four times for a total of 86 laps, but a pit-call to change four tires during the same caution period McMurray's team changed two, left him back in traffic where he found the wall in turn four while driving intensely to get back to the front, collecting Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the process.

"Honestly, when Juan was leading and I was in second, I'm a big believer in fate and I thought this was how it was meant to be," McMurray continued, "I won Daytona, Dario (Franchitti) won the Indy 500 and I thought Juan was going to win this one. It just shows you never give up and you drive the car hard every lap. I'm just shocked I won the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 in the same year, it's been unbelievable."

Harvick led the field to the green flag for the final restart and occupied the inside lane but McMurray was able to make a charge from the outside, clearing Harvick for the lead off turn two creating a deficit Harvick was unable to make up as the laps wound down.

"I got tight going into Turn one in the middle and I had to wait while Jamie (McMurray) was able to carry the momentum around the outside," Harvick said afterwards, "I felt like we had a top-five car but didn't have a winning car. We had a chance to win at the end and came up just a little short."

Biffle drove one of the fastest cars in the race and tailed Montoya all day before making the same conservative four-tire change in the pits on lap 139 which left him eighth in the running. The four fresh tires enabled Biffle to charge back to the leaders, but his charged stalled out behind Harvick and the best he could produce was a third place finish.

"I want to win one of these things, we had the fastest car but the fastest car doesn't always win," Biffle reflected, "We've just got to take some chances to win some of these races I guess" "We would have won that race if we would have put two tires on and that's as simple as it gets. Woulda, shoulda, coulda, it's hard when we haven't won in a year and a half."

Clint Bowyer drove a steady race to finish fourth, racing amongst the leaders and gaining valuable championship points while Tony Stewart was relatively quiet all day before charging late to finish in fifth.

"It was awesome, a lot of fun, and what we needed," Bowyer stated, "It was a good run and a good points race for us. It wasn't what we wanted, but it was what we needed."

"It feels almost like a win to be honest about it," Stewart said, "When we finished practice yesterday, I was in doom-and-gloom mode and I was honestly about a twentieth place car. The pit crew really stepped up and gave me awesome pit stops to get me up front. They got us in position so we could at least fight for a top five finish."

Jeff Burton and Carl Edwards finished in sixth and seventh place respectively while Kyle Busch survived a first lap spin that triggered a seven car crash to battle back for an eight place finish.

"I don't know what happened on the first lap, I just lost it, I guess," Busch explained, "It just went around. I had trouble getting going on restarts but all in all we came back and bounced back solidly, so that was good. We needed a good run."

Joey Logano was forced to start the race from the rear of the field after changing an engine and he advanced all the way to ninth at the finish while Kurt Busch rounded out the top ten finishers after suffering damage on the late-race restarts.

"We really had to grin and bear that one, these double-file restarts are tough and we got some damage on one of the restarts," Busch stated, "We might have finished better, but under the circumstances, that's all we had today. That's probably the hardest tenth place we've had all year."

Jimmie Johnson's bid to win three Brickyard 400's in a row seemed to be on track at the beginning of the day with an outside front row start, but problems with the car's handling relegated him to a disappointing 22nd place finish.

"We tried to get the car better on pit stops and I'm not really sure what the problem was with the car today," Johnson said, "I'm confused as to what went on with a shock or something in the front but we got real tight-in (entering the corners) and couldn't go from there."

For winning team owner Chip Ganassi, the accomplishment of winning the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500, and Brickyard 400 in the same year is a history making feat that may never be equaled in American motorsports.

"It's pretty special, this is a big, big day for our team," a proud Ganassi stated after victory lane celebrations, "I'm glad it happened here in Indianapolis, it's incredible. I need oxygen right now and I don't know what to say."





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