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By Lee Montgomery Turner Sports Interactive
February 24, 2003
12:14 PM EST (1714 GMT)
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- Jamie McMurray seems to have the inside track on becoming the next, well, Ryan Newman/Jimmie Johnson/Kevin Harvick/Dale Earnhardt Jr./Matt Kenseth.
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Sure, he's raced only twice in his rookie NASCAR Winston Cup season. But one of those races, Sunday's Subway 400, was at North Carolina Speedway, a place many would call a "driver's track."
The Rock is one of those places where a driver matters as much as the car, for the balance between outright speed and tire management often decides how well a driver finishes.
McMurray did test at Rockingham, which means he had a good feel for the track and the chassis before his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing team showed up here. But the race was still in his hands.
And his hands were capable Sunday. He ran a solid race, staying up front and out of trouble - except for one minor mistake in the pits - and brought his car home fifth.
"I think it makes me feel good," McMurray said. "I had to work with three crew chiefs last year. Coming in I didn't even know Donnie (Wingo). I was a little bit nervous about that, and (journalists) would just tear me up if I didn't do well.
"I don't know that you can judge it entirely off one race. This is probably my favorite race track, and we tested here and there wasn't a lot of practice for the other guys. It's just reassuring. I feel like our team works well together, and I like everybody."
McMurray isn't done at North Carolina Speedway, either. He starts second in Monday's Busch Series Rockingham 200.
"My Busch car is really good," McMurray said. "We're going to start the same setup we had today. We might try a little something different on shocks, but my Busch car is just really good. It's a car that can win the race tomorrow.
"I feel like I learned a little about the race track (Sunday). When I woke up this morning, (girlfriend) Cielo (Garcia) said, 'Doesn't it feel weird to run the long race first?' I kind of laughed, but hopefully we learned a little bit, and I think our car tomorrow will be incredible."
Busch takes over points lead
Don't look now, but the hottest driver at the end of 2002 is also the hottest driver of 2003. And he's taken over the Winston Cup points lead.
Back-to-back second-place finishes moved Busch into the lead, 31 points ahead of Subway 400 winner Dale Jarrett. Michael Waltrip, the Daytona 500 winner, is in fifth, 54 behind Busch.
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"It feels good to get off to a great start," said Busch, who led 150 laps Sunday but came up short after a fine battle with Jarrett. "We had a lot of things go our way at the end of last year to get into victory lane a few times.
"They were races that we were prepared for, and that's what we kept working towards in the off-season was to get ahead.
"I think we've got our car built for Texas right now, and that puts us a good two months ahead of where we need to be. As long as we can understand that and keep all the crew guys motivated and all the guys that jump over the wall - they were knocking out 13-second stops that kept us up front (Sunday).
"It takes a whole team package and we were fortunate enough today to have a balanced setup underneath the car to run towards the front."
Busch is sure to be a headliner this weekend as the Winston Cup Series goes to his hometown track, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
"Then after that, I hope we're still up there in the points and we can continue moving forward," Busch said. "We'll assess our season after Sears Point. We're just two races in. I'd like to say that we're a championship contender with the way we ended last year, and we'll just try to keep our momentum rolling forward."
No more Spencer questions, please
Busch was angered when a reporter asked him about possible contact with nemesis Jimmy Spencer down the stretch. Busch was trying to hold off Jarrett in heavy traffic, and it appeared he and Spencer got together.
"No. It's pathetic the amount of times you guys bring it up," Busch said. "He was a lapped car just like anybody else was out there. I was maneuvering in and out, going low, going high.
"You have to stage things to where you look ahead and I don't think I lost any more time trying to pass him than I did anybody else."
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| Jimmie Johnson (left) was the best Chevy at Rockingham. Credit: Autostock |
Bad day for bowtie brigade
Sunday wasn't a good day for Chevrolet teams. After a dominant performance at Daytona - Monte Carlos won the Budweiser Shootout, the Daytona 500 pole, both Gatorade 125 qualifying races and the Daytona 500 - only Jimmie Johnson (eighth) could crack the top 10 at Rockingham.
"We just didn't have a very good day," said Waltrip, who ended up 19th. "The DEI cars looked about the opposite of what we looked at Daytona. We were just missing something here."
Skeptics would suggest that Chevrolet drivers were lying back like snakes in the grass, ready to strike at Las Vegas. Maybe, but Rockingham is more of a driver's/handling track than a downforce track.
"I think you'll know more after Vegas and Atlanta," Ford's Matt Kenseth said. "I don't think you can tell anything at Rockingham. ... I don't think the body and the downforce means as much here as what it's gonna mean the next few weeks."
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| Bobby Labonte Credit: Autostock |
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Labonte's Chevy was shining
There was at least one Chevrolet running very well Sunday. Bobby Labonte finished a lap down in 16th, but he led once for four laps and was pushing the leaders when he had to stop late the race for tires and fuel.
Still, Labonte was as fast as anyone at The Rock, making up a lap after a unscheduled pit stop for a flat tire just before the halfway point. Then, he got the lead when he and crew chief Michael McSwain gambled and kept Labonte on the track under a yellow with 95 laps to go.
Labonte was passed by Busch for the lead but stayed on Busch's bumper for several laps, despite having older tires.
"We were really thinking there would have been another caution over the last 98 laps or so," McSwain said. "We took a gamble, and we lost, but it wasn't because we didn't try.
"Everyone could see that Bobby was running just as good as anyone out there on tires that were older than everyone else's.
"We had something for them today, but we were just on the wrong end of the deal when it came down to having some luck. We'll win some races before the season is over, but today just wasn't our day."
Labonte had a difficult season in 2002, but perhaps things have turned around for his Joe Gibbs Racing team.
"What you saw today is what we have been working so hard all winter for," Labonte said. "All in all I thought we had a great race car and great pit stops and a great run today.
"It's unfortunate it just didn't turn out like we hoped it would have, but we were running third there most of the day. It's a definitely a step in the right direction."
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