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Sprint Cup
CUP: Winners & Losers - Charlotte
Jamie McMurray and Jimmie Johnson were among those who had big nights at CMS, while Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch and others stumbled...
Jamie McMurray has endured a tough start to 2011. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Article written by Kris Johnson, SceneDaily.com
Jimmie Johnson struggled early but came home with yet another top-three Chase finish and Jamie McMurray took home a feel-good victory in Saturday’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The fifth Chase race had its fair share of ups and downs for several drivers.
Here’s a look at the winners and losers at Charlotte:
WINNERS
Jamie McMurray – Dream season continues for the best driver not in the Chase. McMurray blew by Kyle Busch after the final restart and sailed away to his third win of the season. Not as big, perhaps, as the Daytona 500 or Brickyard 400 but one to savor after he won his first Cup race at Charlotte in relief of Sterling Marlin nearly eight years ago to the day.
Jimmie Johnson – Spun on lap 34 while mired in traffic, and luckily suffered nothing but a flat tire. Johnson also had contact with Clint Bowyer under the fourth caution period. Ran as low as 37th but finished third to further frustrate his competition and many NASCAR fans.
Denny Hamlin – Fourth-place finish helped him keep pace with Johnson on a night when he wasn’t a factor to win. Unfortunately, for him, Johnson finished third and pushed his lead to 41 points.
Kevin Harvick – Complained vociferously much of the night and was none too happy with his RCR crew, but “Happy” emerged eighth at the finish and stayed within shouting distance of the Chase leader. Trails Johnson by 77 points with five races left and is one of only three drivers looking title-worthy at this point.
Joey Logano – Appeared strong throughout the evening after starting 12th and finishing seventh. His 12th top-10 of the season will build some more momentum for 2011.
Regan Smith – Thirteenth-place finish followed a season-best 12th at California last week. Smith is making huge strides with his underfunded Furniture Row team.
Greg Biffle & Matt Kenseth – Roush Fenway Racing duo finished fifth and sixth, respectively. For Biffle, it helped ease the pain of his engine failure last week at California.
David Ragan – Tenth-place run at Charlotte a rare bright spot in otherwise forgettable season for Ragan in the UPS-sponsored Ford. Just his second top-10 of the year dating back to Talladega (sixth) in the spring.
LOSERS
Jeff Gordon – Lost power on lap 190 and a lap in the process of switching to second battery. Pass-through penalty for being too fast entering on final green-flag pit stop capped a lousy evening for the original four-timer. He finished 23rd.
Kyle Busch – What’s the runnerup doing in our losers’ category? Enjoyed 4-second lead over Gordon when his throttle stuck nearing the 100-lap mark. That problem resolved itself, but Busch faltered shortly after the night’s final restart (after a debris caution he deemed mysterious) and McMurray cruised by him. Busch led a race-high 217 laps and had nothing to show for it.
Ryan Newman – Non-Chaser night’s got off to a rough start with his No. 39 jerking loose and pounding the wall between turns three and four on the second lap. Newman’s car suffered fairly extensive right-side damage and he was forced to the garage for repairs. He came home 36th.
Kurt Busch – Going for the historic sweep of Charlotte’s three Cup events this season (including the Sprint All-Star Race), Busch spun in Turn 4 on lap 24. No major damage. But the 30th-place finish was enough to extinguish his title hopes for good. Dropped three spots to ninth in points and 237 behind Johnson.
Tony Stewart – Last week’s winner had major trouble along pit road. After finding new Chase life at California, Smoke appears dead to rights where a championship is concerned now. He’s 177 points off the leader’s pace – after spotting Johnson another 70 points.
Jeff Burton – Spin on lap 247 in the proximity of teammate Clint Bowyer was mitigated by a nice save from Burton to keep it off the wall. That was his highlight of the night, unfortunately. He finished 20th.
Sam Hornish Jr. – Hornish’s Dodge was towed to the garage after contact from Kasey Kahne on lap 124. It was a wreck not of his own doing, but he remains with just one top-10 finish this season.
Kasey Kahne – Kahne, normally a stellar performer at Charlotte, got way loose and veered into Hornish off Turn 4 on lap 124. He went behind the wall after the incident and later relinquished his seat to J.J. Yeley reportedly due to illness.
COOL-DOWN LAP
“You just drive your heart out and if you have the car, then you are able to make those passes and if you don’t, you don’t make the passes.” – Jamie McMurray
“Apparently, there was a mouse that ran across the race track or something.” – Kyle Busch, on the late caution for debris that hindered his chance to win.
“I’m just real happy for Jamie McMurray. He used to drive for us and was short on wins, but he’s doing a great job.” – Greg Biffle, on former Roush Fenway teammate and winner Jamie McMurray.
“We were just never very fast,” Carl Edwards, who finished 12th.
“I’m not a miracle worker and I’m not doing anything that’s different than anybody else would do. I’m just a different guy and it might have lit a spark under David.” – Crew chief Drew Blickensderfer, after his team’s 10th-place finish.
“Our goal was to come in here and get a single-digit finish and we did that. ...I screamed and complained and the pit crew had a bad stop on the first one, then they were great the rest of the night.” – Kevin Harvick
“It was a battle. We were stuck from like third to fifth all day and just couldn’t get it quite right,” Denny Hamlin
“No, not at all,” Jimmie Johnson, on whether he thought he’d finish well after an early spin on lap 34.
SceneDaily.com • Bristol Motor Speedway President Jeff Byrd dies after long illness
Jimmie Johnson struggled early but came home with yet another top-three Chase finish and Jamie McMurray took home a feel-good victory in Saturday’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The fifth Chase race had its fair share of ups and downs for several drivers.
Here’s a look at the winners and losers at Charlotte:
WINNERS
Jamie McMurray – Dream season continues for the best driver not in the Chase. McMurray blew by Kyle Busch after the final restart and sailed away to his third win of the season. Not as big, perhaps, as the Daytona 500 or Brickyard 400 but one to savor after he won his first Cup race at Charlotte in relief of Sterling Marlin nearly eight years ago to the day.
Jimmie Johnson – Spun on lap 34 while mired in traffic, and luckily suffered nothing but a flat tire. Johnson also had contact with Clint Bowyer under the fourth caution period. Ran as low as 37th but finished third to further frustrate his competition and many NASCAR fans.
Denny Hamlin – Fourth-place finish helped him keep pace with Johnson on a night when he wasn’t a factor to win. Unfortunately, for him, Johnson finished third and pushed his lead to 41 points.
Kevin Harvick – Complained vociferously much of the night and was none too happy with his RCR crew, but “Happy” emerged eighth at the finish and stayed within shouting distance of the Chase leader. Trails Johnson by 77 points with five races left and is one of only three drivers looking title-worthy at this point.
Joey Logano – Appeared strong throughout the evening after starting 12th and finishing seventh. His 12th top-10 of the season will build some more momentum for 2011.
Regan Smith – Thirteenth-place finish followed a season-best 12th at California last week. Smith is making huge strides with his underfunded Furniture Row team.
Greg Biffle & Matt Kenseth – Roush Fenway Racing duo finished fifth and sixth, respectively. For Biffle, it helped ease the pain of his engine failure last week at California.
David Ragan – Tenth-place run at Charlotte a rare bright spot in otherwise forgettable season for Ragan in the UPS-sponsored Ford. Just his second top-10 of the year dating back to Talladega (sixth) in the spring.
LOSERS
Jeff Gordon – Lost power on lap 190 and a lap in the process of switching to second battery. Pass-through penalty for being too fast entering on final green-flag pit stop capped a lousy evening for the original four-timer. He finished 23rd.
Kyle Busch – What’s the runnerup doing in our losers’ category? Enjoyed 4-second lead over Gordon when his throttle stuck nearing the 100-lap mark. That problem resolved itself, but Busch faltered shortly after the night’s final restart (after a debris caution he deemed mysterious) and McMurray cruised by him. Busch led a race-high 217 laps and had nothing to show for it.
Ryan Newman – Non-Chaser night’s got off to a rough start with his No. 39 jerking loose and pounding the wall between turns three and four on the second lap. Newman’s car suffered fairly extensive right-side damage and he was forced to the garage for repairs. He came home 36th.
Kurt Busch – Going for the historic sweep of Charlotte’s three Cup events this season (including the Sprint All-Star Race), Busch spun in Turn 4 on lap 24. No major damage. But the 30th-place finish was enough to extinguish his title hopes for good. Dropped three spots to ninth in points and 237 behind Johnson.
Tony Stewart – Last week’s winner had major trouble along pit road. After finding new Chase life at California, Smoke appears dead to rights where a championship is concerned now. He’s 177 points off the leader’s pace – after spotting Johnson another 70 points.
Jeff Burton – Spin on lap 247 in the proximity of teammate Clint Bowyer was mitigated by a nice save from Burton to keep it off the wall. That was his highlight of the night, unfortunately. He finished 20th.
Sam Hornish Jr. – Hornish’s Dodge was towed to the garage after contact from Kasey Kahne on lap 124. It was a wreck not of his own doing, but he remains with just one top-10 finish this season.
Kasey Kahne – Kahne, normally a stellar performer at Charlotte, got way loose and veered into Hornish off Turn 4 on lap 124. He went behind the wall after the incident and later relinquished his seat to J.J. Yeley reportedly due to illness.
COOL-DOWN LAP
“You just drive your heart out and if you have the car, then you are able to make those passes and if you don’t, you don’t make the passes.” – Jamie McMurray
“Apparently, there was a mouse that ran across the race track or something.” – Kyle Busch, on the late caution for debris that hindered his chance to win.
“I’m just real happy for Jamie McMurray. He used to drive for us and was short on wins, but he’s doing a great job.” – Greg Biffle, on former Roush Fenway teammate and winner Jamie McMurray.
“We were just never very fast,” Carl Edwards, who finished 12th.
“I’m not a miracle worker and I’m not doing anything that’s different than anybody else would do. I’m just a different guy and it might have lit a spark under David.” – Crew chief Drew Blickensderfer, after his team’s 10th-place finish.
VIDEO: Cup - Charlotte Jamie McMurray Wins at CMS (Image: SPEED)
“It was a battle. We were stuck from like third to fifth all day and just couldn’t get it quite right,” Denny Hamlin
“No, not at all,” Jimmie Johnson, on whether he thought he’d finish well after an early spin on lap 34.
SceneDaily.com • Bristol Motor Speedway President Jeff Byrd dies after long illness
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