Daytona Beach, FL (Sports Network) - Jamie McMurray fought back from a penalty
to win Saturday night's Pepsi 400 at the Daytona International Speedway in one
of the closest finishes in NASCAR history. The No.26 Roush Fenway Racing Ford
driver crossed the finish line just inches ahead of Kyle Busch.
The victory was McMurray's first of the season and second of his Nextel Cup
career.
"You wait so long to win, I can't believe it," said McMurray. "We had a tough
year last year and everyone stuck with us. I can't believe I'm in Victory Lane
at Daytona of all places."
Points leader Jeff Gordon led the first two laps before yielding to two Joe
Gibbs Racing Chevrolets driven by Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart. It would be
the first of many lead changes which are so common to restrictor-plate racing.
Kasey Kahne and Jeff Green brought out the first caution flag on lap five when
they got together. Kahne was able to repair his car on pit lane, but Green had
more severe problems and took his car to the garage.
It was lap 14 and Hamlin lost control when Stewart got into the back of him
coming out of turn four. The two slid up into the outside wall. Behind the
two JGR drivers other cars incurred varying degrees of damage while trying to
avoid the accident. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Greg Biffle, Bobby Labonte, Reed
Sorenson, Elliott Sadler and Matt Kenseth all had to make some repairs.
"I don't know what happened, I felt a tap from behind," said Hamlin.
They went back to green on lap 20 and two laps later another accident brought
out the caution flag. This one involved Tony Raines getting "punted" by David
Stremme.
Through all this Clint Bowyer took over the race lead when he made a two-tire
stop. McMurray got around Bowyer for the lead, but two laps later he was on
pit road after NASCAR penalized him for passing below the yellow line.
The new leader was Busch as the field continued to play "restrictor-plate leap
frog. Busch lasted eight laps before Bowyer, with assistance from Carl
Edwards, overtook him.
On lap 55, Montoya slid up into Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick and the No.29
slapped the outside wall. Harvick hung on, somehow, and nursed his Chevrolet
to pit lane. But the damage was done and a Daytona 500/Pepsi 400 double was
out of the question.
Bowyer was showing to be very strong and through 75 laps he was still the
leader and had led 47 laps. Then Bowyer suddenly slowed on lap 79, it appeared
to be an ignition problem. He went to the backup ignition box, but by that
time he had fallen to 19th place.
Kurt Busch inherited the lead and he was the still the race leader as the
field passed the 80-lap halfway point. Behind him was his brother Kyle, Jimmie
Johnson, Edwards and Kenseth. A couple of laps later, Johnson got underneath
Kyle Busch and took over second place.
By lap 90, Kurt Busch and Johnson and separated themselves by half-a-second on
third place. Then Johnson began to hunt for a spot to make the pass and it
allowed Kenseth and Kyle Busch to get back in the mix. J.J. Yeley joined them
in fifth place, just 0.646 seconds back.
Green-flag pit stops began on lap 107. Everyone cycled through without
incident and Kurt Busch regained his lead. Kyle Busch, Johnson and David
Stremme were right there too. Kyle got around Kurt for the lead but a Sterling
Marlin wreck brought out a caution flag slowing the race once again.
Two cars who were strong early, returned to contention. McMurray and Bowyer
cracked the top-10 with 40 laps to go. Kurt Busch got around Kyle as the
tension began to ramp up. It was time to go because you needed to be in
position for the final 20 lap shootout.
Thirty laps to go and Kurt Busch led Kyle, David Gilliland and Martin Truex
Jr. Two laps later Juan Montoya, John Andretti and Bobby Labonte brought out a
caution flag.
All the crew chiefs, except two, decided that new tires were the most
important thing and brought their cars down pit road one last time. Casey
Mears and Kasey Kahne chose to stay out and were one-two. Truex Jr. (two
tires), Gilliland (two tires) and Bowyer (two tires) beat everyone else of pit
lane and were third through fifth, respectively. Kurt Busch was the first
driver with four new tires.
When the track was cleared, the race restarted with 23 laps to go. On the
restart Gilliland immediately backed up out of contention. With 20 laps to go,
Kahne's old tires began to fade and he quickly fell outside the top-10. Truex
Jr. also faded from contention.
Bowyer was on the outside, Mears on the inside, as Bowyer's new tires did
their job giving him the lead with 19 lap remaining. Then Gilliland spun with
17 laps to go. Somehow the field avoided him, but it brought out the seventh
caution flag of the night.
Bowyer still held the lead on the lap 147 restart, but behind him were all
four Hendrick Motorsports cars. Mears was in second place with Johnson, Kyle
Busch and Jeff Gordon just behind him.
On the restart, Mears with help from Johnson and Gordon went around the
outside of Bowyer for the lead. Gordon kept on going and he was in the lead
when Vickers and Nemechek spun on lap 150.
There were seven laps to go when it went back to green. First McMurray, then
Kyle Busch, then McMurray again took turns with the lead. They were side-by-
side as they saw the white flag. Busch and McMurray came out of turn four and
Busch was about two feet in front. But McMurray fought back and as they
crossed the finish line it was McMurray by inches.
The final margin of 0.005 seconds is tied for the second closest finish since
NASCAR went to electronic timing. The closest finish was 0.002 seconds between
Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch in March 2003 at Darlington.
"Carl (Edwards) helped me win the race," said McMurray. "He pushed me to the
win, so a huge thanks to Edwards."
Kurt Busch, Edwards and Gordon completed the top-five. Gordon's solid finish
combined with Hamlin's early race accident gives the four-time series champion
a 277-point lead through 18 races.
The next race is scheduled for Sunday, July 15th at the Chicagoland Speedway.