Racin' With Russ
By Russell Schmidt

McMurray Nips Busch at Daytona
Tuesday, July 10, 2007

It had been a long dry spell.

Jamie McMurray hadn’t pulled into a winner’s circle in nearly five years and some 166 races since his very first Cup checkers.

The next one wouldn’t be easy.

The 31-year-old driver ran up front early in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona, only to succumb to a NASCAR penalty for running below the yellow line, which sent him to the back of the pack.

But with a strong car, getting ‘up on the wheel’, some breaks in traffic and a few drafting buddies along the way, McMurray barely edged Kyle Busch at the stripe by just .005, the second closest margin of victory ever in Cup.

Busch was less than thrilled with the finish, citing the lack of Hendrick teammates in aiding to his next win.

"I guess the bliss is over at Hendrick," he would later say.

He needed to keep in mind when it comes down to the final few laps, most drivers will help anyone if they feel it would help them in any way to a better finish…basically, the gloves are off.

The race started with points leader Jeff Gordon out front, but Denny Hamlin took over that spot fairly quick…that is until teammate Tony Stewart took both of them out on lap 13...yes, I said lap 13. I know….that’s very early in the race and what the heck was Tony thinking taking out a teammate or anyone so early in the show?

Well, it gets more bizarre when you listen to the Home Depot’s response afterwards saying that Hamlin just came to a stop in the corner and essentially he needs to learn how to drive.

Hello…Tony….anybody home?

You ran into the back of your own teammate! He didn’t slam on the brakes, rather breathed the gas pedal while you took out both Gibbs cars and your buddy Dale Earnhardt Jr in the aftermath.

Why is it that Tony blames the guy in front that HE runs in to?? We’ve been down this road before.

Many feel in this case, the young Virginia driver (Hamlin) is outperforming the two-time champ and he can’t stand it…no matter what the reason.

I sure hope Joe or J.D. Gibbs sits down Mr. Hothead and gives him some kind of reality check in response to his latest of many bizarre actions. So far however, Joe Gibbs seems to feel that they are both hard driving competitors and these kind of things may happen. Nonsense! If that’s the coaches true feelings, then he has lost the guts to ‘get real’ with his drivers.

I digress.

Several drivers led the big nighttime race including Busch’s Kyle and Kurt, Casey Mears and lap leader Clint Bowyer.

During the final 40 laps, the traffic up front was thick. Two, three and sometimes four-a-breast action kept the crowd on their feet. The potential for the big wreck was just a breath away. But overall the boys behaved and produced one of the most exciting finishes of the year.

Rounding out the top five included Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards and Jeff Gordon.

Gordon’s latest top-five combined with poor finishes by Hamlin, Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Jr and Kevin Harvick has him 277 points ahead of Hamlin and 383 ahead of Matt Kenseth.

Over on the Busch side, Kyle Busch dominated the field to claim his first Busch race of the season. The soon-to-be ex-Hendrick driver narrowly beat Kevin Harvick, Dave Blaney, Stewart and Clint Bowyer in the rain-delayed Saturday morning Daytona event.

Carl Edwards wound up 11th, yet still leads second place Harvick by 798 points in the big picture.

Open Wheel News - For the second consecutive Formula One race, Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen took the checkered flag, this time in England over Fernando Alonso and points leader Lewis Hamilton.

In Canada, Will Power nailed down his second Champ Car win of the season while three-time champ Sebastien Bourdais crashed out, now sitting third in points. Robert Boorndos finished sixth, yet comes away with a narrow point lead over Power.

After Helio Castroneves crashed out of the lead at the Indy Racing League run in NY at Watkins Glen, Scott Dixon had an easy time notching his third Glen trophy in a row.

Perhaps the most excitement in this event came after the race on pit lane when Sam Hornish Jr’s father stepped in the middle of a heated discussion between Hornish and Tony Kanaan. The end result were people on the ground along with some pushing and shoving.

Crossing the line behind Dixon were the cars of Sam Hornish Jr, Dario Franchitti, Kanaan and Marco Andretti.

From Rumorville - With all of the questions as to NASCAR’s locked-in top-35 in qualifying, don’t be surprised if this rule is changed to top-25 or 30.

I still have a problem with what happened on Friday with 39 cars taking qualifying laps, only to have all of them wiped out and sorted by owners points because of the rain.

That situation wiped out a provisional pole by Boris Said and top runs by Jeremy Mayfield and Michael Waltrip. Why didn’t they run the other 14 cars first thing Saturday morning? That would have been much better results despite a different time of the day, etc.

On the local level, Speedy Faucette continues on a tear at Ace Speedway. The Mebane driver scored his 11th Late Model win at Ace Speedway on Friday night. That’s 11 wins in 17 races held just this year at the Altamahaw track!

The latest win is even more remarkable when you consider he was sent to the back twice for on and off track penalties.

Todd Massey, Rodney Cook, Dustin Rumley and Scotty Warren rounded off the top five.

Other winners on the night included Randy Butner (Modified), Joseph Tucker (Sportsman), A.J. Sanders (Mini-Stock) and Richie Placer won the X-Treme feature.

Did you know? Who has taken advantage of the ‘Lucky Dog’ pass more than anyone else this season? If you guessed Petty driver Bobby Labonte, you’d be correct. The No. 43 Dodge pilot has been the recipient of the ‘Lucky Dog’ a total of 11 times this year with rookie David Regan and Brian Vickers in second with six apiece. What do you think of the ‘Dog Pass’ ? Me? I don’t agree with it. Why should a driver be given nearly a whole lap back? Bizarre. Drop me a line and express your opinion.

Next week’s RWR will review the Busch and Cup action from Chicagoland Speedway, trucking in Kentucky, some local notes and more racing news from around the globe.