Jamie McMurray Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – When tandem “love-bug” racing was the order of the day at restrictor-plate tracks, Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn’t like it one bit. Hated it, if you want to know the truth. NASCAR’s most popular driver couldn’t see the logic in pushing another car to victory, even if it happened to be a car driven by a teammate. When Jimmie Johnson won at Talladega in 2008, Earnhardt’s No. 88 Chevrolet was the caboose, and the caboose finished fourth. To Earnhardt, that wasRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief With the Sprint Unlimited now in the books and Denny Hamlin its victor, it is time to look at some key takeaways from Saturday night’s event. 1) NASCAR overtime rules prove insignificant The field was set after a late race caution with Hamlin leading Joey Logano, Paul Menard, and a charging Kyle Larson. They passed the overtime line on the backstretch of Daytona International Speedway, and after taking the white flag several cars ended up in the wall in Turn 2. NASCAR had a chance toRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service The No. 02 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Daytona Prototype was running an extremely competitive race until brake failure in the eighth hour forced the car to the garage for repairs. The “Star Car” piloted by NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regulars Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson and IndyCar champions Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan was vying for a second straight Rolex 24 at Daytona title before the brake pedal went to the floor with Kanaan behind the wheel. The No. 02 lost five laps whileRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The No. 60 Honda-powered Ligier JS P2 survived an early incident to hold the overall lead at the five-hour mark of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the season-opening race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Teamed with three members of Michael Shank Racing’s 2012 winning team—NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver AJ Allmendinger, Ozz Negri and John Pew—Frenchman Olivier Pla passed Jonathan Bomarito for the top spot early in the fifth hour of competition and was still out front after anRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Driving a brand new Prototype developed and built in his native Russia, IndyCar driver Mikhail Aleshin won the top starting spot for the Rolex 24 at Daytona — with the ninth fastest time of Friday’s qualifying sessions at the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway road course. Englishman Nick Tandy had the afternoon’s fastest lap, leading a Porsche sweep of the top two starting spots in the highly competitive GTLM Class, touring the course in 2:01.408 (105.561 mph) and edging fellow PorscheRead More

By Seth Livingstone, NASCAR Wire Service CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Kyle Larson knows that his career is on the clock. At 23 years young, the driver of the No. 42 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates isn’t outwardly expressing complete urgency to win his next race. But that pressure to not only win, but make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup is building. “There were really no expectations when I first got into Cup,” said Larson, speaking at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented by Technocom. “Then,Read More

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Yes, Jeff Gordon celebrated his 93rd career victory in the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Yes, Gordon will compete for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Yes, there were tears of joy in Victory Lane for Gordon, who’s at the tail end of his final season in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. But Sunday’s race at Martinsville had so much more — most notably, “Matt Kenseth’s Revenge.” Long before Gordon held off Jamie McMurray in aRead More

RICHMOND, Va. – Joe Gibbs Racing brought guns to a knife fight on Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway. But JGR’s Matt Kenseth did his teammates one better — he brought a howitzer. Leading 352 of 400 laps in a race he owned from the outset, Kenseth pulled away from Kyle Busch after a restart with 18 laps left and won the Federated Auto Parts 400 by .951 seconds over his teammate. Kenseth’s fourth victory of the season, tying him for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series lead with Jimmie JohnsonRead More

CONCORD, N.C. – With a deft move with three laps left in Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Denny Hamlin delivered the first victory in the non-points showcase event to Joe Gibbs Racing and to Toyota. As he drove into Turn 1 to start Lap 107, with Kevin Harvick glued to his bumper and ready to make a run at the million-dollar first prize, Hamlin moved up a lane in the corner and took Harvick’s line away, causing Harvick’s No. 4 Chevrolet to lose momentum. “It wasRead More

RICHMOND, Va. – Suspension to redemption. After being suspended for three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races earlier this season after an alleged domestic violence incident, Kurt Busch won Sunday’s postponed Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway in a dominating performance, virtually locking up a spot in this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. “It’s an incredible feeling,” said Busch, who was reinstated March 11 and granted a waiver into the Chase. “It’s a total team effort. And the way that everything came together, it just seemed like weRead More