CUP: McMurray Wins On ‘Mixed’ Day For Ganassi

Sprint Cup

CUP: McMurray Wins On ‘Mixed’ Day For Ganassi

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series veteran Jamie McMurray became the third driver to win the 500 and the 400 in the same season...

Mike Hembree | Posted July 25, 2010 Indianapolis, IN

Brickyard 400 winners Jamie McMurray (Left) and his team owner Chip Ganassi (Right) kiss the bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (Photo: Jason Smith/Getty Images North America)

For a guy whose career seemed to be on the wane not that long ago, Jamie McMurray is doing quite well, thank you.

McMurray completed a delicious double on the high ground of stock car racing Sunday, scoring an impressive victory in the Brickyard 400, pairing the win at the world’s most famous race track – Indianapolis Motor Speedway – with his season-opening victory in the Daytona 500.

RACE RESULTS: BRICKYARD 400 - INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
VIDEO: JAMIE MCMURRAY WINS BRICKYARD 400 AT INDIANAPOLIS

McMurray thus became only the third driver to win the 500 and the 400 in the same season, and his victory put team owner Chip Ganassi in even higher cotton, making him the first owner to win the 500, the 400 and the Indianapolis 500 (with driver Dario Franchitti) in the same year.

McMurray won only two races in four consecutive seasons (from 2006-09) with Roush Fenway Racing before returning to team with Ganassi this year to start an assault on the season’s biggest races.

Video: McMurray Wins Brickyard 400 Jamie McMurray celebrates his Brickyard 400 win. (Image: SPEED)

“From where we were a while back, people had written Jamie off, people had written us off,” Ganassi said. “We have grown as a team, and Jamie has grown as a driver.”

McMurray said the three-biggies-in-one-year probably won’t happen again.

“Chip is having such a year between the NASCAR side and the IndyCar side,” McMurray said. “It’s so hard to get both organizations good at the same time. This race and the Daytona 500 and the Indy 500 are races of strategy. You see guys dominate those races and not win. It’s remarkable what he has been able to put together and the people he’s hired. I feel very honored to be part of that accomplishment.”

Despite the unusual trifecta Ganassi celebrated Sunday, there was a dark side to the day for the Earnhardt-Ganassi team. For the second straight year, team driver Juan Pablo Montoya, a former winner of the Indy 500, had the 400’s dominant car but failed to win. And, as with 2009, when a pit-road speeding penalty killed his day, Montoya took a hit straight to the heart.

He had led 40 consecutive laps and had not been challenged at the front before a late-race caution changed the face of the race. Everyone in the lead group pitted, and McMurray and five other drivers changed only two tires to move in front of Montoya, whose crew chief, Brian Pattie, elected to take four.

Montoya suddenly found himself in seventh, no longer the day’s top dog. He tried to cut into the deficit from the back of the lead pack but lost control of his car and slammed into the outside wall in turn four, his day done.

Montoya refused comment after the race, and a dejected Pattie took the blame for the pit call that recast the race.

Crew members work on the No. 42 Chevrolet after driver Juan Pablo Montoya crashed late in the running of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (Photo: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images North America)

Crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion made the winning call for the McMurray team.

“If you’re the leader and have a really good, balanced car, it’s hard not to take four tires,” Manion said. “That was the 42’s [Montoya] opportunity to win the race. Our opportunity to win this race was to take two.”

Ganassi said the unique situation gave his two teams a chance to use what he called a split strategy in the closing laps.

“We had both angles covered,” Ganassi said. “This is such a team sport. The other team helped us win. You can point to races where four tires and two tires have won. We were in the enviable position of running one-two.

“This is a win for the team. Today was certainly a mixed-emotion day in that respect. But, without the 42 team, the 1 car wouldn’t have won.”

McMurray said he could appreciate Montoya’s dejection.

“For anybody who can lead that many laps of a race, they certainly had the best car,” McMurray said. “It’s been their year [for trouble]. I would guess they’re not shocked. It seems like they’ve had a lot of bad luck. That’s hard on anybody. It’s a special place for Juan from winning the Indy 500 and being the only guy who can win both races. That’s tough.”

McMurray moved to 16th in Sprint Cup points with the victory and has an outside shot to make the Chase. If he doesn’t make it, he’s still happy, he said.

RACE RESULTS: BRICKYARD 400 - INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
VIDEO: JAMIE MCMURRAY WINS BRICKYARD 400 AT INDIANAPOLIS

“I think you show up every week and you do your job and if you make the Chase, that’s wonderful,” he said. “Everyone wants to make the Chase. But getting to win the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 this year means more to me than making the Chase. In 10 years the guy that won both those races one year is the guy everybody will talk about. Whoever finishes second or third in the Chase, nobody is going to care about.”

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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