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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: McMurray An Unlikely Winner At Talladega
Jamie McMurray won the third race of his NASCAR Sprint Cup career...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted November 01, 2009   Talladega, AL
Team owner Jack Roush (Left) and Jamie McMurray (Right) celebrate in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AMP Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo: Getty Images)

Given all the insanity that went on the closing laps at Talladega Superspeedway, it somehow seemed fitting that the AMP Energy 500 would be won by a driver few considered to be a contender, let alone a favorite, and a lame duck at that.

Jamie McMurray claimed victory at Talladega in an ugly race marred by two late-race crashes that snared nearly half the field. It was McMurray’s third Sprint Cup victory of his career, and his second with Roush Fenway Racing, the team he has driven for since 2006, but will leave after this season.

The victory snapped an 86-race winless streak for McMurray and a 30-race winless streak for Roush Fenway, which opened the season with consecutive victories but had not won until today..

McMurray took the lead for the last time on Lap 181 and held on through a red flag after Ryan Newman’s airborne crash on Lap 184, which sent the race to a green-white checkered.

Just as McMurray took the white flag to start the final lap, chaos broke out behind him, with 13 drivers crashing on the frontstretch, which brought a yellow that froze the field and guaranteed a victory for him.

“I saw the guys wreck behind me and I didn’t know if you had to take the white (flag) in order for … I wasn’t real sure what the rules were, and the 9 (second-place finisher Kasey Kahne) went to the outside because he saw the same issue, but I just moved up and kind of tried to block him,” said McMurray. “As soon as I crossed the start-finish line I shut the engine off and pushed the clutch in and coasted around as far as I could. What an exciting day. We had a lot of fans out here today and, certainly, thanks to them.”

It was a bittersweet victory for McMurray and team co-owner Jack Roush. NASCAR has mandated that for 2010, Roush Fenway Racing reduce its team size from five cars to four cars, which means McMurray is the odd man out. Yet despite, a somewhat disappointing tenure at the team, both McMurray and Roush professed to have a great deal of respect for each other.


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