McMurray Holds Off Kyle Busch for NASCAR Nationwide Series Win

In Victory Lane, Jamie McMurray celebrates his first NASCAR Nationwide Series win of the season and his eighth in the series overall. (John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR)By Reid Spencer (Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service)
Jamie McMurray held off Kyle Busch and stopped Busch one spot short of a historic win Saturday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Driving JR Motorsports’ No. 88 Chevrolet, McMurray asserted his superiority over the final 40 of 195 laps to win the Nationwide Series Great Clips 300 at the 1.54-mile racetrack. The victory, the eighth of McMurray’s Nationwide career, was his first since November 2004 at Darlington.

Busch is tied with Sam Ard for the series’ single-season wins record with 10.

Carl Edwards ran third, followed by Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth. Joey Logano, Jason Leffler, Ryan Newman, Paul Menard and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. completed the top 10. Series points leader Brad Keselowski finished 12th and saw his advantage over second-place Edwards trimmed to 332 points.

“We unloaded today and had pretty much the fastest car off the truck,” McMurray said. “It was just pretty loose, and we just did a really good job of adjusting on it.”

The good adjustments continued late into the race, McMurray said.

“At the end, Pops (crew chief Tony Eury Sr.) adjusted on it, and it was pretty fast, even on the short runs.”

McMurray led 43 of the final 47 laps, including the last 23.

“It’s the same thing every week,” McMurray said. “The car out front—the clean air’s huge.”

McMurray’s short-run speed proved decisive in a race that took a series of intriguing turns, including one sequence where only one car was scored on the lead lap.

Harvick took four tires under caution on Lap 62, while Busch and most other contenders chose to restart on old rubber when the field came to green on Lap 65. After restarting 12th, Harvick passed McMurray for the lead on Lap 70.

By Lap 112, he had the rest of the field at least one lap down, after Busch and other drivers on old tires came to the pits under green. Harvick gave up the lead to Busch when he made a green-flag stop for tires and fuel on Lap 120.

Harvick left the pits eight seconds behind Busch but cut that margin in half before Ryan Newman spun Trevor Bayne on the backstretch to cause the third caution of the race and bunch the field. McMurray was first out of the pits under caution and led the field to a restart on Lap 153.

McMurray stayed out front until contact from Stenhouse sent Reed Sorenson’s Toyota hard into the outside wall on Lap 168. Keselowski and 11th-place finisher Josh Wise stayed on the track under the caution, but they quickly surrendered the top two spots when the field restarted.

McMurray surged to the front with Busch in pursuit, but Busch was unable to make up significant ground in the closing laps and finished .286 seconds back.

“We just didn’t quite have enough there on short runs to keep up with them,” Busch said. “Once we got about 25 or 30 laps on (the tires), we could really start reeling them in and pass them. Typically, it’s always a long-run car that wins here—Harvick beat me last year with a long-run car—but that wasn’t the case tonight.”

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NASCAR Nationwide Series Race Number 26
Unofficial Race Results for the Great Clips 300 - Saturday, September 4, 2010
Atlanta Motor Speedway - Hampton, GA - 1.54 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 195 Laps - 300.3 Miles - Purse: $1,076,369

Leader
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Winnings Status Tms Laps
1 7 88 Jamie McMurray Hellmann's / BJ's Chevrolet 195 190 5 133.3 $45,925 Running 3 48
2 2 18 Kyle Busch NOS Energy Drink Toyota 195 180 10 137.8 $40,575 Running 3 74
3 5 60 Carl Edwards Fastenal Ford 195 165 115.9 $29,175 Running
4 8 33 Kevin Harvick Rheem Heating and Air Conditioning Chevrolet 195 165 5 125.3 $21,550 Running 1 52
5 18 16 Matt Kenseth World Financial Group Ford 195 155 105.4 $20,550 Running
6 10 20 Joey Logano GameStop Toyota 195 150 101.0 $18,550 Running
7 12 10 Jason Leffler ABF Toyota 195 146 95.0 $28,909 Running
8 4 1 Ryan Newman Phoenix Construction / Ryan Newman Foundation 195 142 104.8 $19,570 Running
9 9 98 Paul Menard Tarkett / Menards Ford 195 138 92.1 $16,825 Running
10 13 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. # Blackwell Angus Beef Ford 195 134 88.0 $24,787 Running
11 6 7 Josh Wise JR Motorsports Chevrolet 195 130 88.1 $22,512 Running
12 15 22 Brad Keselowski Discount Tire Dodge 195 132 5 99.2 $15,325 Running 1 4
13 20 12 Justin Allgaier Verizon Wireless Dodge 195 124 84.6 $21,262 Running
14 16 21 Clint Bowyer Zaxby's Chevrolet 194 121 80.2 $15,125 Running
15 17 40 Mike Bliss Key Motorsports Chevrolet 194 118 76.4 $20,637 Running
16 33 62 Brendan Gaughan Atlanta Title Loans Toyota 194 115 69.2 $20,712 Running
17 14 42 David Gilliland GetMoreVacations.com / Destin-FWB.com Dodge 194 112 76.9 $14,350 Running
18 23 35 Jason Keller TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 193 109 69.0 $20,287 Running
19 1 38 Kasey Kahne Great Clips Toyota 192 111 5 100.8 $17,175 Running 2 17
20 39 34 Tony Raines Long John Silver's Chevrolet 192 103 59.9 $21,262 Running
21 32 15 Michael Annett Valvoline Toyota 192 100 66.0 $20,037 Running
22 35 09 John Wes Townley Zaxby's Ford 191 97 60.4 $19,962 Running
23 29 05 Willie Allen Owens Corning / 31-W Insulation Chevrolet 191 94 61.2 $20,287 Running
24 11 99 Trevor Bayne Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota 191 91 72.1 $19,812 Running
25 40 28 Kenny Wallace FX Networks / Sons of Anarchy Chevrolet 191 88 48.3 $20,212 Running
26 27 27 Brad Baker Baker - Curb Racing Ford 190 85 48.4 $19,712 Running
27 26 81 Michael McDowell K-Love Dodge 190 82 47.6 $20,062 Running
28 30 11 Brian Scott # AccuDoc Solutions Toyota 189 79 53.1 $19,612 Running
29 25 87 Joe Nemechek HostGator.com Chevrolet 189 76 49.0 $19,562 Running
30 36 24 Eric McClure Hefty Odor Block Ford 188 73 38.6 $19,787 Running
31 34 26 Brian Keselowski K-Automotive Motorsports Dodge 184 70 38.1 $19,432 Running
32 41 70 Mark Green Angel Wings Transport Chevrolet 183 67 36.4 $19,372 Running
33 42 23 Robert Richardson Jr. North Texas Pipe / R3 Motorsports Chevrolet 170 64 38.7 $19,337 Running
34 3 32 Reed Sorenson Dollar General Toyota 166 61 79.0 $19,652 Accident
35 37 66 Steve Wallace 5-hour Energy Toyota 139 58 64.5 $19,272 Engine
36 22 01 Mike Wallace Smoky Mountain Cheese Chevrolet 100 55 52.0 $19,212 Engine
37 21 91 Chase Miller D'Hondt-Humphrey Motorsports Chevrolet 19 52 45.6 $12,440 Electrical
38 28 90 Danny O'Quinn Jr. D'Hondt-Humphrey Motorsports Chevrolet 15 49 38.2 $12,385 Electrical
39 43 89 Johnny Chapman Victory in Jesus Racing Chevrolet 11 46 35.5 $12,345 Suspension
40 31 52 Kevin Lepage My 3 Sons Vending Chevrolet 3 0 31.8 $12,280 Vibration
41 24 92 Dennis Setzer K-Automotive Motorsports Dodge 2 40 31.9 $12,215 Vibration
42 19 43 Kevin Hamlin Baker Curb Racing Ford 2 37 30.5 $12,165 Vibration
43 38 36 Jeff Green TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 1 34 28.9 $12,080 Transmission