McMurray hot in practice again; hopes it carries

RICHMOND, Va. -- For what seems like the umpteenth time this Sprint Cup season, Jamie McMurray and crew chief Kevin Manion Friday had their No. 1 Chevrolet at the top of the practice charts.

Now, all the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing duo can hope is their latest good practice report leads to a frontline finish in Saturday's Crown Royal presents the Heath Calhoun 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

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But to do it, he'll be battling a flock of former Richmond winners, as Happy Hour leader Kyle Busch was in the top five in both practices; while Jeff Gordon was sixth in the first session and fifth in Happy Hour.

If past results mean anything, McMurray has a chore on his hands, as he has only three top-10 finishes in 14 career starts on the .750-mile oval -- and only one in his last nine outings here, a seventh in this event a year ago.

-- including top-of-the-chart performances at Martinsville and Richmond.

In Friday's opening practice, when McMurray was quickest, three other Richmond Cup winners were also in the top five: Clint Bowyer in second, Dale Earnhardt Jr. in fourth and Busch in fifth. Joey Logano, who attempted to make his Sprint Cup debut here in September two years ago but was rained out of the lineup, was third and was also third in Happy Hour.

"I thought we were gonna be real good when we made a couple of race runs and didn't really see anybody faster than we were," McMurray said after Happy Hour, on his way to his Nationwide Series car, JR Motorsports' No. 88. "But I thought we had a really good practice, we went through a lot of different stuff and it seems like we just kept making it better, so it should be good."

In Happy Hour, Busch was quickest, ahead of David Reutimann, who needs a good finish after three engine failures while running in the 10; Logano; Juan Montoya, who's not a big Richmond fan; and Gordon.

"The car seems pretty good, but there are definitely a handful of guys that are pretty good, as well," Manion said. "But all in all, he's pretty happy with it -- you could tell that from his voice -- but he was still complaining about forward bite."

Translating practice results -- McMurray has been in the top 10 in more than half of all the sessions he's run this season -- into race results has been more difficult. In a situation similar -- but not quite as bad as EGR teammate Juan Montoya -- McMurray has only three top 10s on his log, albeit one was a Daytona 500 victory; and he's 17th in drivers' points coming into this weekend, 84 points behind 12th place Jeff Burton.

"The big picture now is to still make the Chase, and we still feel confident we can do that," Manion said. "We've had a lot of unfortunate races, where cautions just come out at the end and it's really been a struggle to finish these races [where we've been running].

"I feel good about the direction we're heading and I feel good about the race cars we have -- I just don't feel good about our finishes. I think if we can get our finishes under control, we're gonna have a good shot at making the Chase."

Within the first four minutes of Happy Hour, A.J. Allmendinger scuffed the wall between Turns 3 and 4 with his No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford, bringing out a caution as he rolled back to the garage with minimal right-side body damage. He ultimately did 24 laps and ended up 17th on the Happy Hour sheet.

It was the most serious incident in 180 minutes of practice, which was held in the heat of mid-day. The race is scheduled to begin just after 7:30 p.m. ET, when the temperatures will be cooler.

"With the sun being out, it's hard to get your car comfortable," McMurray said. "I'm not really comfortable with where the car is, but I think the guys that are good in the day, everybody's just going to get better at night, so I don't know that it's that much of a concern.

"The main thing is; you'll just gain grip. I don't think that the balance is going to be different."

"It's gonna be quite a bit different," Manion said. "We feel the track tightens up quite a bit, so we don't want to be tight now; but forward drive, if you're slipping and sliding now, it's going to get a little bit better. But everyone's in the same boat, so that's good; but if you get a good-handling car right now, it'll transfer over to the night, for sure."

Both McMurray and Manion visited for most of the break between practices with team owner Chip Ganassi, who paid a visit to his NASCAR operation on the way to the IndyCar Series race at Kansas Speedway.

"It's good having Chip around, because he's a true racer, for sure," Manion said. "It's good to have a guy telling you 'good job' or 'the car looks good.' It makes you feel good, but other than that, Chip really knows what's going on, being a [IndyCar] driver at one time; and it's really good having him here."