Daytona Beach, FL (Best E Casino) - Jamie McMurray fought back from a penalty to win Saturday night's Pepsi 400 at the Daytona International Speedway in one of the closest finishes in NASCAR history. The No.26 Roush Fenway Racing Ford driver crossed the finish line just inches ahead of Kyle Busch.
The victory was McMurray's first of the season and second of his Nextel Cup career.
"You wait so long to win, I can't believe it," said McMurray. "We had a tough year last year and everyone stuck with us. I can't believe I'm in Victory Lane at Daytona of all places."
Points leader Jeff Gordon led the first two laps before yielding to two Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolets driven by Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart. It would be the first of many lead changes which are so common to restrictor-plate racing.
Kasey Kahne and Jeff Green brought out the first caution flag on lap five when they got together. Kahne was able to repair his car on pit lane, but Green had more severe problems and took his car to the garage.
It was lap 14 and Hamlin lost control when Stewart got into the back of him coming out of turn four. The two slid up into the outside wall. Behind the two JGR drivers other cars incurred varying degrees of damage while trying to avoid the accident. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Greg Biffle, Bobby Labonte, Reed Sorenson, Elliott Sadler and Matt Kenseth all had to make some repairs.
"I don't know what happened, I felt a tap from behind," said Hamlin.
They went back to green on lap 20 and two laps later another accident brought out the caution flag. This one involved Tony Raines getting "punted" by David Stremme.
Through all this Clint Bowyer took over the race lead when he made a two-tire stop. McMurray got around Bowyer for the lead, but two laps later he was on pit road after NASCAR penalized him for passing below the yellow line.
The new leader was Busch as the field continued to play "restrictor-plate leap frog. Busch lasted eight laps before Bowyer, with assistance from Carl Edwards, overtook him.
On lap 55, Montoya slid up into Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick and the No.29 slapped the outside wall. Harvick hung on, somehow, and nursed his Chevrolet to pit lane. But the damage was done and a Daytona 500/Pepsi 400 double was out of the question.
Bowyer was showing to be very strong and through 75 laps he was still the leader and had led 47 laps. Then Bowyer suddenly slowed on lap 79, it appeared to be an ignition problem. He went to the backup ignition box, but by that time he had fallen to 19th place.
Kurt Busch inherited the lead and he was the still the race leader as the field passed the 80-lap halfway point. Behind him was his brother Kyle, Jimmie Johnson, Edwards and Kenseth. A couple of laps later, Johnson got underneath Kyle Busch and took over second place.
By lap 90, Kurt Busch and Johnson and separated themselves by half-a-second on third place. Then Johnson began to hunt for a spot to make the pass and it allowed Kenseth and Kyle Busch to get back in the mix. J.J. Yeley joined them in fifth place, just 0.646 seconds back.
Green-flag pit stops began on lap 107. Everyone cycled through without incident and Kurt Busch regained his lead. Kyle Busch, Johnson and David Stremme were right there too. Kyle got around Kurt for the lead but a Sterling Marlin wreck brought out a caution flag slowing the race once again.
Two cars who were strong early, returned to contention. McMurray and Bowyer cracked the top-10 with 40 laps to go. Kurt Busch got around Kyle as the tension began to ramp up. It was time to go because you needed to be in position for the final 20 lap shootout.
Thirty laps to go and Kurt Busch led Kyle, David Gilliland and Martin Truex Jr. Two laps later Juan Montoya, John Andretti and Bobby Labonte brought out a caution flag.
All the crew chiefs, except two, decided that new tires were the most important thing and brought their cars down pit road one last time. Casey Mears and Kasey Kahne chose to stay out and were one-two. Truex Jr. (two tires), Gilliland (two tires) and Bowyer (two tires) beat everyone else of pit lane and were third through fifth, respectively. Kurt Busch was the first driver with four new tires.
When the track was cleared, the race restarted with 23 laps to go. On the restart Gilliland immediately backed up out of contention. With 20 laps to go, Kahne's old tires began to fade and he quickly fell outside the top-10. Truex Jr. also faded from contention.
Bowyer was on the outside, Mears on the inside, as Bowyer's new tires did their job giving him the lead with 19 lap remaining. Then Gilliland spun with 17 laps to go. Somehow the field avoided him, but it brought out the seventh caution flag of the night.
Bowyer still held the lead on the lap 147 restart, but behind him were all four Hendrick Motorsports cars. Mears was in second place with Johnson, Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon just behind him.
On the restart, Mears with help from Johnson and Gordon went around the outside of Bowyer for the lead. Gordon kept on going and he was in the lead when Vickers and Nemechek spun on lap 150.
There were seven laps to go when it went back to green. First McMurray, then Kyle Busch, then McMurray again took turns with the lead. They were side-by- side as they saw the white flag. Busch and McMurray came out of turn four and Busch was about two feet in front. But McMurray fought back and as they crossed the finish line it was McMurray by inches.
The final margin of 0.005 seconds is tied for the second closest finish since NASCAR went to electronic timing. The closest finish was 0.002 seconds between Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch in March 2003 at Darlington.
"Carl (Edwards) helped me win the race," said McMurray. "He pushed me to the win, so a huge thanks to Edwards."
Kurt Busch, Edwards and Gordon completed the top-five. Gordon's solid finish combined with Hamlin's early race accident gives the four-time series champion a 277-point lead through 18 races.
The next race is scheduled for Sunday, July 15th at the Chicagoland Speedway.
