1. Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Chevrolet
27. Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Chevrolet
39.
McMurray, No. 1 Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats ChevroletDAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 3, 2010) – Returning to Daytona as the reigning Daytona 500 Champion holds a lot of prestige and brings much excitement as the team of
McMurray found out this past weekend as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) returned to Daytona Beach. However, it holds a lot of expectation as well, especially when your driver has won two of the last three NSCS Superspeedway events, with the non-winning race resulting in a second-place finish at this year’s first Talladega event.McMurray and team arrived to Daytona with just a bit of confidence, as the reigning Daytona 500 Champions. But prior to practicing on Friday, McMurray had some business to attend to at the Daytona 500 Experience. The museum, located outside of turn 4, at the speedway is the current home of the No.1 Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats Chevrolet that McMurray drove to Victory Lane in the 2010 Daytona 500. As part of winning the 500, McMurray was asked back to the Daytona 500 Experience to lay the concrete impression of his autograph, hands, and footprint into the sidewalk outside of the museum. This block of concrete will forever adorn the sidewalk outside of the Daytona 500 Experience, commemorating McMurray’s 2010 victory.
Turning their attention to racing, the team would only practice in one of the two Thursday practice sessions, choosing to sit out the second session after feeling that the car had great speed and handling. Restrictor-plate racing is a game of chance and McMurray and team were not going to take a chance on being involved in a wreck during the second practice session on Thursday afternoon. Rather they chose to get together for dinner, commemorating their Daytona 500 Victory, relaxing and focusing on putting down a good qualifying lap on Friday evening.
However, Mother Nature had different plans for the Northeast Florida area on Friday, rain showers. As is typical of Florida in the summer time, rain showers built up and swept inland from the ocean Friday evening. Because of this, NASCAR cancelled NSCS qualifying, meaning the cars would lineup for Saturday’s event by points. McMurray would roll off in the 17th position.
As the teams arrived to Daytona on Saturday afternoon, they were greeted with partly-cloudy skies and warm temperatures, and a continued threat of rain. The threat turned into rain just prior to driver introductions, and would eventually postpone the start of Saturday night’s event until around 9:30pm ET, a delay of just over two hours. The green flag dropped and the field was off for 400 miles at Daytona, the last on its aging pavement. The race was just the way McMurray likes his speedway racing for the first 110 laps, uneventful for the most part, with small spats of aggressive driving and quick moves by his fellow competitors. But, for the most part, it was uneventful as McMurray managed to steer clear of any accidents. Testing his machine early on, McMurray would jump in the draft and find that his car could go to the front when needed. Looking to steer clear of any big wrecks, he would drop to the back for safety. But, as the race progressed, he would get the racing itch and start to work his way back towards the front, running as high as the third position by lap 101. McMurray would race right around the top-10 for the rest of his race, though it proved to be a short-lived race for him and the No.1 Team. On lap 116, McMurray and the No.1 Team found themselves involved in the first major wreck of the race, while running in the 12th-position, when the No.6 car lost control collecting McMurray and former Earnhardt Ganassi Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. The damage relegated McMurray and team to the garage, proving to be too much to fix, the team would have to settle for a 39th-place finish.
The finish dropped McMurray two spots to 19th in the 2010 Point’s Standings with 1945 points, 225 back from the coveted 12th position.
McMurray and the No.1 team head to Chicagoland Speedway this weekend for the LifeLock.com 400. The LifeLock.com 400 takes place on Saturday, July 10 at 7:30 pm (ET). The race will air live on TNT and radio stations affiliated with MRN.
Source EGRwFS
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