McMurray collects five race awards at Chicagoland

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- After rocketing the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates' No. 1 Chevrolet to the pole for the third time this season, Jamie McMurray powered his way to a top-five finish and five post-race contingency awards in Saturday night's LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.

McMurray, along with crew chief Kevin "Bono" Manion and the No. 1 pit crew, captured the Coors Light Pole on Friday, moving to the top of the season charts with three. Additionally, the team picked up the DirecTV Crew Chief of the Race, MAHLE Clevite Engine Builder of the Race, Tissot Pit Road Precision and WIX Filters Lap Leader awards.

The awards are part of the NASCAR Prize Money and Decal program, also referred to as the contingency program, which provides teams prize money and weekly awards based on performance in several categories.

McMurray, who led Saturday's 43-car field to the green flag, also led 72 laps during the 267-lap event, earning the WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race award, given to the eligible driver who leads the most laps during each week's race.

With a powerful engine for the No. 1 team, Earnhardt Childress Racing Engines was awarded the MAHLE Clevite Engine Builder of the Race honor based on qualifying and finishing position. This is the second consecutive week ECR has captured the engine builder honors.

"It was a great weekend for us," said Richie Gilmore, COO of ECR. "We captured the pole in four series over the weekend including the No. 1 car in Chicago. We couldn't do what we do without the great partnership with MAHLE Clevite. We started out of the box winning with the No. 1 car at the Daytona 500 and to have the success we did in Chicago is a great testimony to the hard work we put in here at ECR."

McMurray's fifth-place finish marked the team's fifth top-five of 2010.

"Really a good run for our McDonald's Chevrolet," McMurray said post-race. "I thought the first half of the race we had one of the best cars ... us and the No. 48. Bono did a really good job adjusting on the car and getting it tighter. It is really cool to get runs like this in Chicago."

The No. 1 pit crew, who produced fast pit stops all night, picked up the Tissot Pit Road Precision award for spending the least amount of time on pit road (189.002 seconds) among lead-lap cars.

Manion, who brought the same chassis that captured the Coors Light Pole and finished second at Darlington in May, racked up the DirecTV Crew Chief of the Race award for displaying the best qualifying and race effort as determined by the average of qualifying result and race finish.

"All of us at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing are extremely proud to have brought home the numerous contingency awards from Chicagoland," Manion said. "While we strive to bring home victories each week, I can't say enough about how hard our guys worked to have the kind of success that we did at Chicago. I take a lot of pride in winning the Coors Light Pole, it just says something that we can set our car up to run the fastest lap out of all the other great competitors out there."

After enjoying a Cup Series open weekend, McMurray, the reigning Daytona 500 winner, will head into the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 25. He's 18th in the driver standings, 181 points out of 12th.