McMurray continues late surge with another top-10

FORT WORTH, Texas -- With 20 laps remaining in Sunday's Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, car owner Jack Roush figured he soon would be sitting with one of his Roush Fenway Racing drivers in the winner's post-race news conference.

He just didn't think it would be Carl Edwards.

Chased-Out Standings

Through Texas

Pos.	Driver	Points
1.	David Ragan	1035
2.	Casey Mears	896
3.	Martin Truex Jr.	853
4.	Jamie McMurray	815
5.	Kurt Busch	794

* An unofficial list of the top-five non-Chase for the Sprint Cup competitors over the 10 Chase races.

As hot as Edwards has been lately -- Sunday's win was his second in a row and his eighth of the season, tying Kyle Busch for the Sprint Cup Series high with two races remaining -- Roush thought it was Jamie McMurray who was going to win Sunday's race.

The driver of the No. 26 Ford was leading with 20 to go and held that lead, in fact, until he was forced to pit for fuel with 12 laps remaining. Edwards and eventual second-place finisher Jeff Gordon stayed out and gambled on fuel mileage, hoping they had enough to stretch it the rest of the way. When their gambles turned out to be successful, that relegated McMurray to a third-place finish that nonetheless left him -- and Roush, who still got to celebrate Edwards' win as well -- smiling.

"I thought Jamie was going to win the race. With 20 laps to go, I thought Carl would have the benefit of gaining some points -- but I didn't think I'd be sitting with Carl [in the post-race winner's news conference]. I thought I would be sitting here with Jamie," Roush said.

Making the same gamble Edwards made on fuel was not possible for McMurray.

"I talked to the engineer [for the No. 26 team] right after the race. He said it wasn't even close for us," McMurray said. "He told me the mileage they would have to get, and the mileage we were getting. He was like, 'We just really didn't have that choice.'"

McMurray admitted that when he came in for his final pit stop with 12 to go, taking on fuel and two right-side tires, he thought he got out quickly enough that his No. 26 team had won the race. It wasn't until a few seconds later, when he got back up to speed on the track, that he realized Edwards and Gordon had stayed out.

"Coming out of that last stop, I thought it was all over. I didn't think anybody would be able to make it on fuel," said McMurray, who owns two career wins and hasn't captured a race since winning at Daytona last July. "The best car probably still won, but it was still close for us."

It was close because of a call crew chief Larry Carter made on the previous pit stop with 70 laps to go. Along with several other cars -- Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt Jr. among them -- the No. 26 Ford took only two tires instead of the customary four and gained valuable track position to move up to the front. (Continued)