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.

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.

Want more? Get inside the walls of Roush Fenway Racing.

• More

"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."

• Sprint Press Pass: Jamie McMurray