Bring on Martinsville.
Jamie McMurray cleared Kyle Busch off Turn 2 after a restart on Lap 314 and pulled away from Busch to win Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, site of McMurray’s first Sprint Cup Series victory in 2002.
Chase leader Jimmie Johnson and second-place Denny Hamlin, however, both found trouble but rallied to finish third and fourth, respectively, to set up a showdown Oct. 24 at Martinsville, a short track the two drivers have dominated the past four years.
McMurray won for the third time this season, the second career time at Charlotte and the sixth time in his career, completing unfinished business from the Coca-Cola 600 in May, when he ran second to Kurt Busch.
Greg Biffle finished fifth, and Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, David Reutimann and David Ragan completed the top 10. NASCAR.com
“When I won here in 2002—you’re in a situation where I don’t know that there’s any race car driver (that) wants someone else to get in their car and win, much less a kid that’s never won on the Truck or the Nationwide Series, or the Busch Series at the time. So I knew that that was hard on Sterling. I knew that, as soon as I get in Victory Lane, I remember telling myself you need to be very gracious and be respectful to Sterling, because this is hard for him. He’s at home with a broken neck.
“So you win with another team, it’s not really your team. Tonight is completely different. I talked with (team owner) Chip (Ganassi) about this earlier today, about where his Cup organization was a year ago, and where it is right now and the success that we’ve had. And so, it’s different circumstances. I feel this is my team and it’s a team that has been put together over the past 11 months, 12 months, and it’s mine. And it’s a completely different feeling.” FOXSports.com
“It’s very disappointing,” a disgusted Busch said. “We had the best car all night and gave it up. Just flat out gave it away and it’s real frustrating to not come out of here with a win at a track that I have yet to win at and have been so fast at.”
Busch led the most laps but wound up finishing sixth in Friday’s Nationwide Series race at Charlotte.
Johnson, who won this race one year ago, rebounded from an early-race spin. He got loose and spun around coming out of turn two on lap 34, suffering two flat tires during the incident. The four-time defending series champion has finished third or better in the last four Chase races. His lead is now 41 points over Denny Hamlin, who finished fourth.
“I’m glad to be sitting in here in third spot and leading the points,” Johnson said. “It’s amazing what goes through your mind when you’re sliding sideways on the back straightaway. I saw my hard work for the year and dreams of being a five-time champion go away, and fortunately, I got the car turned away from the inside wall. At that point, it kind of scared me straight.”
Greg Biffle finished fifth.
Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, David Reutimann and David Ragan completed the top-10. MiamiHerald.com
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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Bank of America 500 at Charlotte - Race Results
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