Jamie McMurray's Chip Ganassi outfit built a Busch car for McMurray, who usually drives for Rusty Wallace in Busch events.

McMurray qualifies 14th in backup Dodge

MEXICO CITY -- While a street parade of drums, whistles and colorful Mexican flags ushered the No. 42 team through its final tech inspection, Jamie McMurray readied for his place in NASCAR history.

A little more than two-and-half miles later, McMurray stood in 14th-place on the international motorsports stage for Sunday's inaugural road course Busch Series event in Mexico City.

Lineup: Telcel Motorola 200 Pos. Driver Speed 1. J. Goeters 103.366 mph 2. R. Gordon 103.174 3. M. Truex Jr. 103.109 4. B. Said 103.079 5. R. Fellows 103.079 * -- Complete lineup, click here Mexico City native Jorge Goeters wins the pole for the Mexico 200 Michel Jourdain qualifies 18th in his backup car Rusty Wallace runs a conservative qualifying lap Armadno Fitz piensa que NASCAR es justificado en ir a Mexico Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

Laying down an impressive 101.954 mph lap, McMurray will take the historic green flag on the outside of Clint Bowyer in Row 7 for the 80-lap race.

Surrounded by thousands of cheering fans, native son Jorge Goeters grabbed the qualifying laurels and crossed the start/finish line at 103.366 mph.

"I'm really excited about our qualifying run today," McMurray said. "The biggest challenge for me during qualifying was the car continues to rear up from rear end weight."

"The front brakes were awesome, but I was pretty tight on the gas through the esses and both ways. After the wreck yesterday, I can't thank my crew enough for all their hard work to get me back on track today.

"Since we didn't have a back-up car, they spent nearly five hours changing over the suspension, motor and brakes on my teammate Reed Sorenson's back-up car.

"Everyone at Chip Ganassi Racing did an amazing job for me to compete in this historic event for my team and for Texaco/Havoline."

Since touching down south of the border, the Texaco/Havoline team's luck has been as unpredictable as the Autodrom Hermanos Rodriguez course itself.

Despite electrical problems and malfunctioning warning lights during yesterday's first practice session, McMurray returned to the track only to spin out in Turns 7 and 8 and make hard contact with the retaining wall.

Thirteenth fastest in the first practice session, McMurray was one of many drivers forced to their back-up cars during the day's wreck-filled practice sessions.

Starting the second practice in his teammates backup car intended for the upcoming Phoenix International Raceway event, he closed out the day in the 20th position atop the board.

But despite on-track struggles, McMurray's experiences in Mexico have been nothing but positive.

"Everyone has been so nice and welcoming," McMurray said. "And everything is so festive -- there's music everywhere and everyone's laid back and relaxed. I've had such a great time because of it and want to come back."

In his first-ever road course appearance, Busch Series teammate Reed Sorenson put the No. 41 Discount Tire Dodge 19th on the starting grid and was the third-highest qualifying rookie.