McMurray upstages Chase drivers in Charlotte

By Jim Utter

McClatchy Newspapers

CONCORD, N.C.

An unexpected Jamie McMurray victory in a Sprint Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway?

Say it ain’t so.

Almost eight years to the day of his improbable win at Charlotte in his second series start, McMurray seemingly did it again, pulling out a stunning win in Saturday night’s Bank of America 500.

Kyle Busch dominated much of the race and led on a restart with 21 of 334 laps remaining but McMurray dove underneath his No. 18 Toyota to take the lead for just the third time in the race.

McMurray, who failed to make the Chase for the Cup but won NASCAR’s two biggest races this season (Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400), held off Busch and Jimmie Johnson for his third win of the season and sixth of his career.

Johnson’s third-place finish allowed him to continue to maintain his lead in the series standings as he seeks his fifth consecutive championship.

Kyle Busch took early command of the race, leading 65 of the first 76 laps even though he complained he was having problems with a hung throttle pedal.

With 60 laps remaining, Busch was still in front, followed by Johnson, McMurray, Denny Hamlin and Greg Biffle.

On Lap 290, David Reutimann brought his No. 00 Toyota down pit road to start a round of green-flag pit stops, the last one teams would need to make the distance on fuel.

When the stops had cycled through on Lap 299, Kyle Busch still remained in the lead, followed by McMurray, Johnson, Hamlin and Biffle.

To add to Jeff Gordon’s problems, he was caught speeding on pit road during his green flag stop and dropped to 24th in the running order, one lap down.

On Lap 309, a caution came out for debris in Turn 1. The top five cars stayed out while the rest of the lead-lap cars elected to pit for new tires.

On the restart on Lap 314, Kyle Busch led, followed by McMurray, Johnson, Hamlin, Biffle, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Regan Smith, Reutimann and Matt Kenseth.

Before the cars made it through Turn 2, McMurray passed Busch to claim the lead for the third time in the race.