McMurray Carries the Aflac Duck to a Ninth-Place Finish Under the Lights at Bristol
BRISTOL, Tenn. (August 24, 2007) - The night race at the 0.533-mile Bristol Motor Speedway is known for being action packed and this year's Food City 250 was not a disappointment. Fans got their fill of green-flag racing and cautions while everyone learned how to compete on the new track surface. Jamie McMurray adjusted very well to the new track surface and was able to drive his No. 26 Aflac Ford Fusion to a ninth-place finish.
From his 30th-place starting position McMurray took a smooth and steady race approach. He slowly began gaining track position one competitor at a time. By the time the first caution came out on lap 16 he was in the 27th position. From there he carried the same momentum and kept working his way towards the front.
The second caution came out on lap 51 while McMurray was running 24th. Crew chief Chad Norris made the call to come down pit road for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. The Aflac over-the-wall team helped out McMurray and gained a position on pit road for him.
The field returned to green-flag racing on lap 56 with McMurray sitting 23rd. McMurray once again continued his trek to the front and was all the way up to 17th on lap 76 when the third caution came out. Many drivers took this as an opportunity to pit, but McMurray stayed out and was scored in the fourth position for the restart on lap 83.
McMurray held strong in the top five for the next 67 laps until the caution on lap 150 when he made the call to come down pit road while the car was still handling well to make his final pit stop before the handling had a chance to slip away. McMurray took on four tires and filled the No. 26 Aflac Ford Fusion and headed back out to the track for the remaining 93 laps.
Everyone was on different pit cycles due to the multiple cautions in the race. McMurray was 23rd, but knew he would cycle back through to the top 10. A caution on lap 171 resulted in a lot of debris on the track and caused NASCAR to display the red flag and stop the field for clean up. While sitting in his car under the red flag McMurray chatted with his team and said he was to loose, but that he thought he would be pretty good at the end.
McMurray was right, the car may not have been handling as well as he would have liked, but he was still able to break into the top 10 on lap 209 and move up on position in the closing laps to earn a ninth-place finish.
"The 41 car wrecked and got in our way," said McMurray. "We should have finished up fifth because I had those guys all passed and just got held up there, but we had fun. We didn't have a very good car, so I'm pretty happy with ninth. The outside groove is really good with the new surface. Some of these guys in the Busch Series, they don't go up there, but I know all those guys in the Cup cars will go up there immediately , so you'll see a little different race tomorrow."
RACE SUMMARY
Jamie McMurray
Started: 30th
Finished: 9th
