NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) teams looked to the second scheduled night race of the 2015 season at Richmond International Raceway (RIR), however Mother Nature had other plans, and persistent rains on Saturday forced postponement of the Toyota Owners 400 at until Sunday afternoon. After qualifying ninth for the race, McMurray had one of his strongest runs of the season en route to a fourth-place finish.
McMurray made his fourth top-10 start of the 2015 NSCS season at RIR and quickly showed that he would have a car to contend for a win. Following the team’s first pit stop under a competition caution on lap 52, the No. 1 Energizer EcoAdvnaced Chevy was forced to make an extra pit stop to check for possible loose lug nuts on the race car. The extra stop dropped McMurray back to 31st position. However, he quickly overcame the deficit and made an impressive run back to the front, racing into the top-10 by lap 180 and eventually to the lead by lap 262. McMurray ran among top-15 for 330 of the races 400 laps (82.5%).
On the race’s final restart of the day, McMurray looked poised to make the most of the opportunity, starting from the outside of the front row, with just 25 laps to go. The No. 1 Chevy was very fast on long-runs and needed a few more laps to build up tire pressures to contend for the win. McMurray was able to drive the Energizer EcoAdvanced Chevy to a fourth-place finish, his second top-five finish this season.
With his finish, McMurray moved up three positions to ninth in the NSCS point standings.
NOTES OF INTEREST
· McMurray captured his second consecutive fourth-place finish at RIR and his third in the last four races
· McMurray was ranked first for fastest driver late in a run, which ranks each driver during the last 25% of laps since a pit stop
· The Toyota Owners 400 was slowed by caution eight times for 53 laps
CGRFS Quoteboard:
Jamie McMurray – No. 1 Energizer EcoAdvanced Chevrolet SS: – “Well, this Energizer Chevy was just good on the long runs. It wouldn’t take off real quick, but after 30 laps we were as good as anyone on the track. It was so much fun at the end to be that much quicker than those guys. I’m really proud of our team today. We had a little bit of a hiccup in the pits at the beginning, and those guys did a good job of brushing that off and giving me good pit stops all day. We’ve run so good this year and it feels really nice.”
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will head to Talladega Superspeedway and the GEICO 500, May 3. FOX, Sirius XM NASCAR Channel 90 and MRN Radio will have live coverage at 1 p.m.ET.
About Chip Ganassi Racing Teams
Chip Ganassi has been a fixture in the auto racing industry for over 25 years and is considered one of the most successful as well as innovative owners the sport has anywhere in the world. Today his teams include four cars in the IndyCar Series, two cars in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and one Prototype in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. Overall his teams have 17 championships and over 160 victories, including four Indianapolis 500s, a Daytona 500, a Brickyard 400 and six Rolex 24 At Daytonas and the 12 Hours of Sebring. Ganassi boasts state-of-the-art race shop facilities in Indianapolis and Brownsburg, Ind. and Concord, N.C., with a corporate office in Pittsburgh, Pa.
For more information log onto chipganassiracing.com
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