Jamie McMurray’s magical year continued with a win at the Nationwide Race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Driving part-time for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Junior Motorsports in NASCAR’s top level junior series, he held off Kyle Busch (a 10-time winner this year in this series), in a race which finished under the lights Saturday night.
“We unloaded today and had pretty much the fastest car on the track,” McMurray, the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 winner said.
Busch led the most laps, but, it boiled down to the final restart after he dropped to third on his final pit stop.
“He definitely wanted to get in front on the restart,” said McMurray’s crew chief, Tony Eury Sr. “He got out in the middle and got in front. That’s the kind of move you have to make to win the race.”
Busch was closing in the final laps but couldn’t close the deal at the checkered flag of the 195-lap race.
“It didn’t quite unfold the way we wanted it to,” Busch said. “Typically a long-run car wins here, and we were real good on the short runs.”
The second-place finish kept Busch from setting a Nationwide record for the most wins in a single season.
“We came up short tonight,” Busch said. “Five laps more and I could have had him. If … there’s always an ‘if’ in this sport I guess.”
Carl Edwards finished third, Kevin Harvick fourth and Matt Kenseth fifth. Kasey Kahne had taken the pole position.
“This is a fun race track. It was like a dirt race, and it was hard to find the line,” Edwards said. “I could catch those guys and then I would mess up one lap and I would have to pedal for five or six laps to get back to where I was before I messed up.”
Brad Keselowski, who finished 12th, has a 332-point lead over Edwards in the championship standing.
Driving part-time for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Junior Motorsports in NASCAR’s top level junior series, he held off Kyle Busch (a 10-time winner this year in this series), in a race which finished under the lights Saturday night.
“We unloaded today and had pretty much the fastest car on the track,” McMurray, the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 winner said.
Busch led the most laps, but, it boiled down to the final restart after he dropped to third on his final pit stop.
“He definitely wanted to get in front on the restart,” said McMurray’s crew chief, Tony Eury Sr. “He got out in the middle and got in front. That’s the kind of move you have to make to win the race.”
Busch was closing in the final laps but couldn’t close the deal at the checkered flag of the 195-lap race.
“It didn’t quite unfold the way we wanted it to,” Busch said. “Typically a long-run car wins here, and we were real good on the short runs.”
The second-place finish kept Busch from setting a Nationwide record for the most wins in a single season.
“We came up short tonight,” Busch said. “Five laps more and I could have had him. If … there’s always an ‘if’ in this sport I guess.”
Carl Edwards finished third, Kevin Harvick fourth and Matt Kenseth fifth. Kasey Kahne had taken the pole position.
“This is a fun race track. It was like a dirt race, and it was hard to find the line,” Edwards said. “I could catch those guys and then I would mess up one lap and I would have to pedal for five or six laps to get back to where I was before I messed up.”
Brad Keselowski, who finished 12th, has a 332-point lead over Edwards in the championship standing.