McMurray continues late surge with another top-10 (cont'd)

Edwards indeed appeared to have the best car of the night, leading a race-high 212 of the 334 laps. But if Edwards had the best car, McMurray's might have been second-best in terms of performance potential. He ended up leading 56 laps, more than everyone else but Edwards -- taking the lead on Lap 265 and holding it until just before he pitted for the final time.

"Larry made just a great call to put just two tires on with 70 laps to go," McMurray said. "We ran that out and then put just two more tires on again. Some of those guys made it on fuel. But overall, that was cool to get the lead that late. It was really exciting to have the possibility to win that late.

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"The guys did a great job in the pits all night. These 500-mile races are really long, and it's really easy to screw your car up. So they did a nice job."

It continued a positive trend for McMurray, who has now finished in the top seven in three of the last four races and has climbed to 18th in the standings after an awful start to his season. After he finished 43rd at Bristol in the fifth race of the season, McMurray was mired in 36th in points. He went to Martinsville the next week needing to qualify for the starting field on speed, did so, and thus began a steady climb back to respectability in the standings.

"Jamie is a good racecar driver," Roush said. "He has not had the results that we would have hoped this year, and certainly isn't where we would like him to be in the points. But he's been running really well in the last handful of races. He's definitely got some energy and some momentum going."

Roush added that he has complete confidence that McMurray will be able to carry that over to next season.

"Jamie will get a win soon," Roush said. "We have a plan to make his team stronger, we think, for next year. So we're really excited about going forward with Crown Royal, and making that work to everybody's satisfaction. He certainly missed a chance to win a race [Sunday]. But everybody knows he was right there. That's the main thing."

The plan for next year includes a switch in crew chiefs, with Donnie Wingo apparently in line to replace Carter, according to sources. Wingo previously worked with McMurray in the Nationwide Series and at Chip Ganassi Racing. With the results they've had together over the last month, McMurray was asked about the wisdom of breaking up his suddenly potent combination with Carter.

"The crew chief that's coming over, I've worked with him in the past and he's one of my best friends -- and certainly very good friends with Larry also," McMurray said. "So I really don't think it will be a tough transition at all."

Meanwhile, he said he's looking to build on the late-season success he has been enjoying. Only mechanical problems at Martinsville, and getting caught up in wrecks not of his own doing while running up front at Talladega and Dover, have led to poor finishes recently.

"We started so bad at the beginning of the year. But we've been a top-five car like every week the last month or two. We had a chance to win Dover [where he led 35 laps]," McMurray said. "We've just been awesome. When you can end the season that strong, I feel like you can start the next season off the same way. So I'm really happy with this team."

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