CUP: McMurray Wins At CMS; Johnson Third

Sprint Cup

CUP: McMurray Wins At CMS; Johnson Third

Jamie McMurray won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway...

Mike Hembree | Posted October 16, 2010 Concord, NC

Jamie McMurray celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Jamie McMurray roared away from Kyle Busch in the closing laps of Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and scored his third victory of the Sprint Cup season.

Jimmie Johnson, the series’ point leader, also was a big winner. He recovered from an early-race slide and a less-than-perfect pit stop to finish a solid third, increasing his lead over second-place Denny Hamlin in the point standings with five races remaining in the Chase.

Kyle Busch dominated the race, leading 217 of the 334 laps, but fell victim to a late-race caution that wiped out his lead. The caution, which flew because of debris on the track, produced a stream of expletives from Busch over his team radio. Later, he said, “Apparently, there was a mouse that ran across the track or something.”

The win gave McMurray victories in three of the season’s spotlighted races. He also won the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400.

In victory lane, McMurray dedicated the win to injured driver Shane Hmiel and the Hmiel family. Steve Hmiel, Shane’s father, is competition director at Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, McMurray’s home base.

“I had a tough year last year,” McMurray said. “I found out about the power of prayer and what that can do for you.”

Saturday night’s results left three drivers – Johnson, Hamlin and Kevin Harvick – as the Chase contenders most likely to cash in at the end of the season. Jeff Gordon finished 23rd Saturday and now is 156 points behind in fourth. That’s almost a full race out of the lead.

Busch led McMurray by several car lengths with 26 laps to go when the night’s ninth caution was unfurled. The top five drivers – Busch, McMurray, Johnson, Hamlin and Greg Biffle – stayed on the track during the caution.

When the green flew with 21 laps to go, McMurray sprinted past Busch to take the lead on the restart, and he stayed in front the rest of the way, winning by 1.86 seconds.

“I don’t know what the caution was for,” Busch said. “Jamie got a good restart. I got there, and my car pushed up the track and it was too late. He was already gone.”

It was a frustrating finish after Busch, who corrected early-race problems with a stuck throttle, seemed certain to record his first Cup win at CMS.

“It was one of the best cars we’ve ever had,” he said. “It was the kind of run we’re supposed to make happen. It was a great feeling until about 20 to go. It’s very, very frustrating. I apologize to everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing for not being able to bring it home tonight.”

Hamlin finished fourth to almost keep pace with Johnson in the Chase race. He trails Johnson by 41 points entering next Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway, where Hamlin and Johnson have won the past eight races.

“It was a battle,” Hamlin said. “We were stuck from third to fifth all night. We just couldn’t get it quite right. We kept them in our sights tonight, but that’s all we could do.”

Chase contenders ran into trouble virtually from the start of the race.

Tony Stewart’s car sustained right rear damage when his teammate, Ryan Newman, slapped the wall on the second lap. Stewart finished 21st, and he is now tied for fifth in the standings with Kyle Busch, 177 points behind Johnson.

Kurt Busch, driver of the #2 Operation Home Front/Miller Lite Dodge, spins out after an incident in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bank of America 500. (Photo: Getty Images)

On lap 24, Kurt Busch’s car slid through turn two, although he didn’t make contact with the wall or another car. But he ran poorly the rest of the night and finished 30th.

Eleven laps later, Johnson spun out of the second turn and dropped to 36th position after a pair of pit stops for tire changes.

Gordon had a strong car in the first half of the race but ran into alternator and battery troubles near the halfway point and fell off the lead lap. He got the lucky dog award on the next caution to return to the lead lap but then ran in the low 20s before finishing 23rd.

On lap 249, Jeff Burton, racing teammate and fellow Chase contender Clint Bowyer, lost control of his car and slid across the track, bringing out the eighth caution of the night.

Harvick spent most of the race complaining about his car on his team’s communications channel, but he managed to run in the top 10 virtually all night, finishing eighth.

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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mike Hembree

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR

CUP: Johnson Destroys Another Format
For a record fourth time, Jimmie Johnson rolls home first in Sprint…
CUP: Busches Falter In Final Shootout
Kyle, Kurt Busch lose top spots on pit road prior to 10-lap finale……
CUP: McMurray, Stenhouse Advance To All-Star
Jamie McMurray dominates Showdown to move into All-Star field with…