McMurray Completes Tri-Fecta For Chip Ganassi
07.25.10 - INDIANAPOLIS - Jamie McMurray became the third NASCAR driver to win The Brickyard 400 and The Daytona 500 in the same season and Chip Ganassi became the first car-owner to win the Daytona 500, Indy 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same year. "it's pretty Special. My heart goes out to Juan (Pablo Montoya, who dominated the event like last year, but once again came up short of victory), He had a great day too" said Ganassi.
McMurray joined Dale Jarrett (1996) and Jimmy Johnson (2006) as the only three drivers to complete the Indy/Daytona Championships. McMuray passed Kevin Harvick on the last restart with 11 laps remaining and held on for the victory in the Brickyard 400. This was his second victory and seventh tip-10 finish in 2010. Kevin Harvick held on for second and Greg Biflle finished third.
An ecstatic McMurray commented, "it's unbelievable. We didn't have the best car. When Kevin got by me a few laps from the end, I thought it was over. Honestly, when Juan was leading and I was 2nd, I'm a big believer in fate, and I thought this was how it was meant to be." Everyone else in attendance and on television echoed McMurray's comments, as Juan Pablo Montoya for the second consecutive year dominated the event and once again was poised to take the victory, but just as last year's event, fate was not to be for Montoya.
Brickyard 400 Winner, Jamie McMurray
He seemingly led at will and was over three seconds ahead, when the next to last caution flag flew with 23 laps remaining. Montoya's team made a fateful decision to change all four Goodyear tires instead of two like most of the front-runners did, and this put him back in seventh position at the restart, effectively ending his chance at victory. Montoya would crash out of the event a few laps later, setting up the teammate McMurray's green flag pass eleven laps from the finish. Montoya left the grounds without comment after the race, but Team owner Ganassi had plenty to say.
When questioned about Montoya's team strategy on the last stop and what he would say to the team to soothe their pain, Ganassi said "They should've took two tires", which summed up the year thus far for the #42 Team Target Chevrolet.
This was McMurray's eighth Sprint cup Series start at Indy with average starting and finishing position of 16th. He had finished all of his previous events at Indy and on the lead lap in six of his previous seven Brickyard's.
Brickyard News and Notes:
- Kevin Harvick (2nd) posted his seventh top-10 finish in ten races at Indy. It's his 14th top-10 finish in 2010 and leads the points standings by 184 points over Jeff Gordon (22nd)
- Greg Biffle (3rd) posted his fourth top-10 finish in eight races at Indy
- Kevin Conway (34th) was the highest finishing rookie and led today's race once for one lap becoming the 1st Raybestos Rookie to lead a lap at Indy since Jamie McMurray led twice for 22 laps in 2003.
- McMurray's posted just his 5th NASCAR Sprint Cup victory in 278 starts
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. salvaged a 27th finish after being involved in Montoya's late-race accident
