McMurray Captures the Checkered Flag at Daytona 500

DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. -- What a storybook finish!
Jamie McMurray won the 52nd annual NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 but it took three green, white, checkered flag attempts and an unbelievable shove from the sport's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., to pull the curtain down on one of the most exciting 500's in the sport's history.

After two red flags to repair a hole in the track's bumpy surface, McMurray wound up in the front pack when it came to the two-lap showdown for NASCAR's biggest prize. And Earnhardt provided the help he needed to hold off a snarling, hungry pack of professional stock car drivers trying to add their names to the Daytona 500 record book.


Earnhardt came from 10th to second in two laps to get the assist, and McMurray was overcome with emotion afterwards. McMurray was the odd-man-out at Roush Racing at the end of 2009 when that organization had to drop a team to comply with NASCAR's four-car ownership rule.

McMurray didn't know if he would have a ride for 2010 until his former car owner Chip Ganassi called and put him in a car for the second time.

McMurray responded just like he did the first time he drove for Ganassi. He won his first race with the team, just like he did with Ganassi when he won his first race, the fall event at Charlotte.


The race took six hours and 10 minutes to complete because a huge pothole developed in the lower racing groove of turn one. The hole was patched and came undone and had to be patched again due to the unusually cold and rainy weather that settled over Daytona Beach for this year's Speedweeks.

Finishing third was Greg Biffle, who ran up front most of the day. He was followed by Clint Bowyer in a Richard Childress Chevrolet. David Reutimann was fifth, Martin Truex Jr. sixth, Kevin Harvick seventh, Matt Kenseth eighth, Carl Edwards ninth and Juan Pablo Montoya 10th.

The race produced a ton of leaders, including Mark Martin, Earnhardt, Kasey Kahne, who wrecked at the end, Harvick, Kyle Busch, Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Elliott Sadler, who was also eliminated from contention by an accident, Truex, AJ Allmendinger, also involved in an accident, Biffle, and Scott Speed, David Ragan, Jeff Gordon and Joey Logano.


The 21 different leaders was a Daytona 500 record, and McMurray established a record he could care less about. He led the fewest numbers of laps – two -- of any Daytona 500 winner. He wouldn't care if he had only led one lap, the last one.

Four-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson had a troublesome day, finishing 35th.

Ageless Martin, everybody's favorite, led the first lap from his pole position under a clear-blue sunny sky. The cars ran side by side, darting and bouncing around, before Brad Keselowski cut a tire in turn three and hit the wall, collecting Penske teammate Sam Hornish, Jr., and Regan Smith in the process. Gordon narrowly missed the smoke-filled accident.

On the restart at lap 13, Martin was still in front with Earnhardt Jr., Montoya and Harvick in tow. The first three cars chose not to pit since it was so early in the race.

Montoya led briefly before Earnhardt zipped past on the 14th lap. The cars were shuffling back and forth and Martin was bounced back to 23rd spot before he could get back in line.


The crowd of nearly 200,000 fans was still on its feet at 20 laps as 26 cars ran nose-to-tail and side-by-side over the tricky two-and-a-half-mile track.

Harvick took the lead at lap 21 and someone was passing someone just about every lap behind him.

At lap 30, Harvick led with Kurt Busch on his bumper. Sadler was third, Montoya fourth and Stewart fifth. Earnhardt was next, followed by Bowyer, Reutimann, Johnson, Kahne and Logano.

Busch moved into the lead at lap 32. At lap 38, Montoya, Martin and Earnhardt had to pit since they stayed out on the first caution.

At lap 42, Allmendinger, in a Petty Ford, had moved into second place ahead of Harvick. Kurt Busch continued to lead.


Allmendinger passed Kurt Busch for the lead on lap 46, proving this Daytona 500 was, indeed, anyone's race. Kurt Busch passed. Allmendinger back on lap 49.

Once the leaders had made pit stops around 50 laps, the leader was Kurt Busch again with Allmendinger second. Johnson was third. Kahne was fourth, followed by Harvick, Earnhardt Jr., Montoya, Kyle Busch, Sadler and Bowyer.

The second caution of the afternoon flew on lap 66 when Joe Nemechek's Toyota jumped sideways between turns three and four. All the leaders headed for pit road. Kyle Busch slid through his pit which cost him some valuable time, as much as six positions on the track.

The race resumed on lap 70, it was Kurt Busch, Allmendinger, Kahne, Harvick, Johnson, Truex, Edwards, Biffle, Bowyer and Kyle Busch.
Allmendinger quickly went to the front in his No. 43 Petty car, which made old-time race fans happy since it reminded them of the King's (Richard Petty) heyday.

Another caution flag, the third of the race, waved on lap 71 when Mike Bliss spun in turn two and hit the inside retaining wall.  All the frontrunners pitted once again.

Hamlin was the leader for the first time in the event when the race was green-flagged again. Kurt Busch was behind Hamlin. Busch was trailed by Biffle, Kyle Busch, Bowyer, Gordon, McMurray, Newman, Sadler and Menard.

At the 100-lap halfway mark, Jeff Gordon took the lead with Bowyer close behind. Gordon's move past Kyle Busch was the 25th official lead change of the race. Trailing Gordon and Bowyer were Biffle, Kyle Busch and Sadler, but Bowyer took the top spot a few laps later with Richard Childress teammate Harvick shoving him forward. At 110 laps of the 200-lap distance, it was still anybody's race.

Finish	Start	Car #	Driver	Team	Laps	Pts/Bonus	Status
1	13	1	Jamie McMurray	Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet	208	190/5	Running
2	2	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet	208	175/5	Running
3	23	16	Greg Biffle	3M Ford	208	170/5	Running
4	9	33	Clint Bowyer	Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet	208	165/5	Running
5	20	00	David Reutimann	Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota	208	155	Running
6	14	56	Martin Truex Jr.	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota	208	155/5	Running
7	5	29	Kevin Harvick	Shell/Penzoil Chevrolet	208	156/10	Running
8	24	17	Matt Kenseth	Crown Royal Ford	208	142	Running
9	27	99	Carl Edwards	Aflac Ford	208	138	Running
10	8	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Target Chevrolet	208	139/5	Running
11	39	31	Jeff Burton	Caterpillar Chevrolet	208	130	Running
12	1	5	Mark Martin	GoDaddy.com Chevrolet	208	132/5	Running
13	32	98	Paul Menard	Peak/Menard’s Ford	208	124	Running
14	7	18	Kyle Busch	M&M’s Toyota	208	126/5	Running
15	22	83	Brian Vickers	Red Bull Toyota	208	118	Running
16	19	6	David Ragan	UPS Ford	208	120/5	Running
17	25	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Express Toyota	208	117/5	Running
18	43	51	Michael Waltrip	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota	208	109	Running
19	30	82	Scott Speed	Red Bull Toyota	208	111/5	Running
20	16	20	Joey Logano	Home Depot Toyota	208	108/5	Running
21	42	71	Bobby Labonte	TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet	208	100	Running
22	6	14	Tony Stewart	Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet	208	97	Running
23	10	2	Kurt Busch	Miller Lite Dodge	208	99/5	Running
24	12	19	Elliott Sadler	Stanley Ford	208	96	Running
25	38	26	Boris Said	Window World Cares Ford	208	93/5	Running
26	21	24	Jeff Gordon	Dupont Chevrolet	208	90/5	Running
27	40	21	Bill Elliott	Motorcraft / Quicklane Tire & Auto Ford	208	82	Running
28	34	7	Robby Gordon	Monster Energy Drink Toyota	207	84/5	Running
29	35	37	Travis Kvapil	Extenze Ford	205	81/5	Running
30	4	9	Kasey Kahne	Budweiser Ford	202	78/5	Accident
31	37	38	Robert Richardson	Mihindra USA Tractors Ford	202	70	Accident
32	15	43	AJ Allmendinger	Best Buy Ford	198	72/5	Running
33	29	55	Michael McDowell	PRISM Motorsports Toyota	195	64	Drive Shaft
34	17	39	Ryan Newman	US Army Chevrolet	193	61	Accident
35	3	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe’s Chevrolet	185	58	Rear Axle
36	26	12	Brad Keselowski	Penske Dodge	174	55	Running
37	26	77	Sam Hornish Jr.	Mobil 1 Dodge	160	52	Running
38	33	34	John Andretti	Window World Cares Ford	117	49	Accident
39	11	78	Regan Smith	Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet	90	46	Running
40	31	13	Max Papis	GEICO Toyota	89	43	Engine
41	18	47	Marcos Ambrose	Kroger Floral Toyota	79	40	Engine
42	28	36	Mike Bliss	Wave Energy Drink Chevrolet	76	37	Accident
43	41	87	Joe Nemechek	NEMCO Motorsports Toyota	64	34	Accident

Top 12 Driver Points:
(1) J. McMurray 190;(2) D. Earnhardt Jr. 175;(3) G. Biffle 170;(4) C. Bowyer 165;(5) K. Harvick 156;(6) D. Reutimann 155;(7) M. Truex Jr. 155;(8) M.
Kenseth 142;(9) J. Montoya 139;(10) C. Edwards 138;(11) M. Martin 132;(12) J. Burton 130.