Racetrack Insider - News and Views of the Motorsports Industry from Insiders Drew Patey and Buddy Judy

McMurray Wins at the Talladega Superspeedway

The NASCAR Sprint Cup teams ran at the 2.66 mile Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday in the seventh race of The Chase and Talladega lived up to it's reputation - what a wild race. The NASCAR Cup cars ran Talladega this weekend with a smaller restrictor plate that slowed the cars down but at the end of the race there were two big wrecks that determined to outcome. Jamie McMurray came out on top and claimed his first victory in more then two years while Jimmie Johnson further extended his points lead in the standings to close on his fourth consecutive Sprint Cup title. How do you win on a Superspeedway, well the key is to be out in front of the "big one" when it comes. The big one is the big wreck and it didn't come until the closing laps of the 188 lap contest. McMurray happened to be the lucky one as he dodged both big wrecks. The first one happened when Ryan Newman went flying in the air after being tagged by Marcus Ambrose. The race was red flagged for the clean up and set up a green white checkered finish. And yes, you can't send these Cup drivers back out onto the track and expect them to stay in line for two laps. When the green flag flew it was a dash for the cash and again cars began to spin when Safety-Kleen's Brad Keselowski got hit from behind by Kurt Busch and took out 13 cars including many of the cars in The Chase. Mark Martin's car flipped over, while Jeff Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya and Kurt Busch all ended up on the hook being dragged back to the garage. As the checkered flag came out it was McMurray followed by Kasey Kahne, Joey Logano and Greg Biffle. Safety-Kleen's Jeff Burton rounded out the top-five. Jimmie Johnson finished sixth and now has a 184-point lead over Mark Martin as the teams head to Texas next week. Todd Williamson and the crew from the Birmingham branch did a fantastic job of setting up the track and servicing the NASCAR teams this week. Three to go, Texas - Phoenix and Homestead, call the engraver and start putting Jimmie Johnson's name on the trophy - for the fourth time.