Jamie McMurray returned to Charlotte the scene of his first Sprint Cup victory – eight years ago - and stole the show from the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
McMurray, who did not make the 12-man Chase, beat Kyle Busch on the final restart and cruised to an easy win at the 1.5 mile oval. Point’s leader Jimmie Johnson was third.
After finishing second in the May 600 mile race in Charlotte McMurray said: “Anything less than a win would be disappointing.”
While many people rate Busch the best restart driver in the garage McMurray said: “Kyle is the best driver in traffic, he does a better job than anybody else. I do a really good job of not spinning my tires. When they start spinning you lose a lot of speed.”
Explaining his late race prowess, McMurray added: “We had a better car than Kyle at the end. He was better at certain stages during the race but at the end of the race we had the best car.”
Kyle, who led the most laps, 217 in the 334-lap race, was deeply disappointed in finishing second.
“Jamie got a good restart and I don’t know if he got pushed by Jimmie or not but he had a good run a good head of momentum getting into Turn 1 and then I got there and my car pushed up the racetrack and I back to the gas and it was too late. He was already gone so, there was nothing I could do. Couldn’t stay to his outside even,” Busch explained.
“It’s very, very disappointing. We had the best car and just gave it up. I’m sorry, it's my job to get a win for these guys.”
The biggest comeback of the day belonged to the four-time and defending Cup champion, Johnson. After a pit stop, Johnson got loose and spinned through traffic flattening his tires on lap 34, almost losing a lap.
Johnson said: “I just couldn’t give up. I hate that I spun out, but I’m kind of proud that I didn’t hit anything because I did a lot of driving out the side, in reverse and turning the wheel—just trying to keep it off the fence.”
“Yeah I had a lot of fun racing with Kyle,” Johnson said, adding: “I knew that I could race him really hard and we wouldn’t get into a situation where we’d have a problem. He ran his lane and I ran mine, and he wasn’t mirror driving me and I wasn’t trying to side-draft and screw him up, or getting in there compacting air to turn him around. We just raced really hard for that second spot.”
Denny Hamlin, who finished fourth and is now 41-points behind Johnson in the Chase standing, said: “It was a battle. We were stuck in third to fifth all day, couldn’t get it quite right. Kept him in our sights but that’s all we could do.”
With five races remaining in the Chase, Kevin Harvick is third, 77 points behind Johnson, and pole sitter Jeff Gordon is 156 points out of first place.
Patrick Carpentier, of Joliette, Quebec, finished 37th and led lap 83.
McMurray, who did not make the 12-man Chase, beat Kyle Busch on the final restart and cruised to an easy win at the 1.5 mile oval. Point’s leader Jimmie Johnson was third.
After finishing second in the May 600 mile race in Charlotte McMurray said: “Anything less than a win would be disappointing.”
While many people rate Busch the best restart driver in the garage McMurray said: “Kyle is the best driver in traffic, he does a better job than anybody else. I do a really good job of not spinning my tires. When they start spinning you lose a lot of speed.”
Explaining his late race prowess, McMurray added: “We had a better car than Kyle at the end. He was better at certain stages during the race but at the end of the race we had the best car.”
Kyle, who led the most laps, 217 in the 334-lap race, was deeply disappointed in finishing second.
“Jamie got a good restart and I don’t know if he got pushed by Jimmie or not but he had a good run a good head of momentum getting into Turn 1 and then I got there and my car pushed up the racetrack and I back to the gas and it was too late. He was already gone so, there was nothing I could do. Couldn’t stay to his outside even,” Busch explained.
“It’s very, very disappointing. We had the best car and just gave it up. I’m sorry, it's my job to get a win for these guys.”
The biggest comeback of the day belonged to the four-time and defending Cup champion, Johnson. After a pit stop, Johnson got loose and spinned through traffic flattening his tires on lap 34, almost losing a lap.
Johnson said: “I just couldn’t give up. I hate that I spun out, but I’m kind of proud that I didn’t hit anything because I did a lot of driving out the side, in reverse and turning the wheel—just trying to keep it off the fence.”
“Yeah I had a lot of fun racing with Kyle,” Johnson said, adding: “I knew that I could race him really hard and we wouldn’t get into a situation where we’d have a problem. He ran his lane and I ran mine, and he wasn’t mirror driving me and I wasn’t trying to side-draft and screw him up, or getting in there compacting air to turn him around. We just raced really hard for that second spot.”
Denny Hamlin, who finished fourth and is now 41-points behind Johnson in the Chase standing, said: “It was a battle. We were stuck in third to fifth all day, couldn’t get it quite right. Kept him in our sights but that’s all we could do.”
With five races remaining in the Chase, Kevin Harvick is third, 77 points behind Johnson, and pole sitter Jeff Gordon is 156 points out of first place.
Patrick Carpentier, of Joliette, Quebec, finished 37th and led lap 83.