 | | Jamie McMurray's crew works to repair the left-side damage after he spun into the Turn 3 wall. Credit: Chris Stanford/Getty Images |
By Marty Smith, NASCAR.COM
July 18, 2005
04:01 PM EDT (20:01 GMT)
LOUDON, N.H. -- Jamie McMurray on Sunday questioned whether contact with Matt Kenseth on Lap 27 of the New England 300 was intentional on Kenseth's part. Turns out it was. "I just basically ran him over," Kenseth said. "It was all my fault." Kenseth's honesty is appreciated but offers little solace for McMurray, who as a result of the incident dropped from eighth to 11th in the point standings. "I pretty much got taken out," McMurray said. "I had him cleared on both deals. When you wreck somebody right there, there's really no excuse for it." The accident began when, according to Kenseth, McMurray ran over the front fender of the No. 17 Ford. Frustrated, Kenseth refused to give McMurray ample room to safely make the pass. The two made contact, sending McMurray's Dodge hard into the Turn 3 wall on the driver's side. The left side of McMurray's car was destroyed, and while he escaped uninjured he did admit the accident was painful. "Matt must have been mad about something earlier in the year. I'm not sure," McMurray said. "He raced me really hard and I finally got up underneath him, and had him cleared and slid up. But where he wrecked me, it was pretty deliberate. I couldn't even save it. It's unfortunate. "It's 30 laps into the race. Usually you let guys go, then. He raced me really hard. My car was quite a bit better. I was just trying to be careful so I didn't get loose up underneath him and wreck him. But as it turned out, maybe I should have." In retrospect, Kenseth was remorseful. He went on to finish 10th in the New England 300. "I was racing him hard and I was giving him a lot of room," Kenseth said. "He ran over my left front off the corner and we were real close getting into Turn 3. I was just too close to him. I knew I was too close. "I was a little mad he ran over my fender there so I was staying close to him. Just my fault. I misjudged it and just plain ran him over. I feel bad about that. "You never want to wreck anybody, and never want to see anybody hit the wall with the chance of getting hurt. I feel really bad about that and it was 100 percent my fault." McMurray's bid for the Chase for the Nextel Cup took a considerable hit. He lost three positions in the standings, and lost 81 points to leader Jimmie Johnson. McMurray entered the event 358 points out of first and ventures home 439 points behind. "I just kind of got dumped," McMurray said. "It was pretty deliberate." | 
