NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) hosted the second restrictor-plate race of the 2015 season in the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (TSS). The No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet SS rolled off from the 27th position and survived the big crashes including a final lap incident that helped McMurray advance from 19th to an 11th-place finish.
After a somewhat disappointing qualifying effort on Saturday morning at TSS, the No. 1 team turned their focus to Sunday’s 188-lap race that is often just about survival. McMurray quickly advanced to the front of the field within the first 10 laps of the race where he competed most of the day, finishing with an average running position of 13.6 position (ranked 12th among 43 competitors).
Just before halfway, McMurray reported that he might have a tire going flat as the car seemed to lose speed and wasn’t handling well compared to earlier in the race. Crew chief Matt McCall made some major adjustments on the ensuing pit stop and got the McDonald’s Chevy handling better. McMurray was able to pilot the No. 1 machine to an 11th-place finish, narrowly missing a third consecutive top-10 finish.
With his finish, McMurray moved up two positions and is now ranked seventh in the NSCS point standings.
NOTES OF INTEREST
· Seventh-place in the NSCS standings is the highest that McMurray has ever been in the point standings after 10 races
· This was McMurray’s best finish at Talladega since his victory in in Oct. 2013
· McMurray ranked third among closers, which ranks the number of positions improved in the last 10% of the race, by gaining 12 positions in the final 19 laps of the GEICO 500
· The GEICO 500 was slowed by caution six times for 23 laps and one red-flag for about 12 minutes
CGRFS Quoteboard:
Jamie McMurray – No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet SS: – “I am really excited to just finish with a whole car. We got lucky on the last lap to avoid all of the wrecking and made it through untouched. I didn’t think that we were going to make a run to the front with five laps to go, but in typical Talladega style, things got interesting and we picked up a lot of positions. Great job by the McDonald’s team today with good pit stops and adjustments.”
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will head to Kansas Speedway and the SpongeBob SquarePants 400, May 9. FOX Sports 1, Sirius XM NASCAR Channel 90 and MRN Radio will have live coverage at 7:30 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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