Working On My Redneck ™ » earnhardt-ganassi racing

McMurray Wins The Brickyard 400

Leon — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 01:37:47 +0000

Photo courtesy Johns Harrelson/Getty Images

Jamie McMurray greatly increased the quality of his racing resume Sunday with The Brickyard 400 victory. He now has joined some very good company with the likes of Jimmie Johnson and Dale Jarrett. Johnson and Jarret were the only other NASCAR drivers to win The Daytona 500 and The Brickyard 400 in the same season before McMurray’s victory Sunday. Series points leader, Kevin Harvick, finished second followed closely by Greg Biffle in third.

Juan Pablo Montoya led the most laps, 86, but again had fell disappointingly short when his team opted to pit for four tires while leading with 23 laps to go. Six others took two tires and that pushed Montoya back to eighth on the restart and two laps later, he crashed while scrambling to make up lost position.

That crushed Montoya, who refused to comment immediately afterward. His equally crushed crew chief took the blame. “Bad call,” Brian Pattie said. “Crew chief error. We should have taken two tires.”

This is the second consecutive year that Montoya was the most dominating race car at the brickyard 400 and failed to win the race! Last year he was issued a “speeding ticket” leaving the pits. However, this year Montoya was subject to his own aggressiveness trying to make up for what turned out to be a poor strategy decision on the pit stop.

Nevertheless, team owner Chip Ganassi was not crushed by Montoya’s failure. The second team at Earnhardt-Ganassi, the #1 Bass Pro Sports Chevy took up the slack, and rewarded Ganassi with his first Brickyard 400 victory. McMurray’s Brickyard 400 victory put Chip Ganassi in a class all by himself. Ganassi is the first team owner to win the three crown jewels of auto racing , the Daytona 500, the Indy 500, and the Brickyard 400 all in one year!

Of being at his best in the big events, McMurray said, “I think it’s coincidence a little bit that we’ve run well at all those big races. After sitting on the pole at Darlington and running second, then going to Chicago with the same car, sitting on the pole, finishing fifth, we had a car that they had given all the updates to, and we were going to bring here. I asked Bono (his crew chief, Kevin Manion), ‘Any chance we could bring the same car we ran at Darlington and Chicago?’ He’s like, absolutely. We raced Chicago Saturday. I went to the shop on Monday, the car was stripped down, they were taking it in to repair it.

Many pundits thought that Jamie McMurray’s racing career was on the downward slide when Roush-Fenway Racing was forced to eliminate one of their race teams due to the new rules limiting owners to a maximum of four race teams. That rule went into effect at the beginning of the 2010 race season. However, with McMurray’s Daytona 500 victory, now his Brickyard 400 victory, and a near miss with Harvick at the spring Talladega race, McMurray is making the pundits “eat some crow”!

Here is the unofficial results from the 2010 Brickyard 400.

What is your take on Jamie McMurray’s performance in 2010?

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Montoya Captures The Brickyard 400 Pole

Leon — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 19:01:18 +0000

(photo courtesy Leon Hammack)

Today Juan Pablo Montoya (JPM) captured the pole for the 17th running of The Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in his Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing #42 Target Chevy. JPM, the 2000 winner of the Indianapolis 500, won the pole with a lap time of 40.375 seconds and a speed of 182.278 mph. Juan appears to be picking up just where he left off in the 2009 Brickyard 400. He was the most dominate car leading 116 laps until he was issued a “speeding ticket” as he lefts the pits late in the race last year.

Second fastest at the end of qualifying was the four-time champ and three time winner of this race, two consecutively 2008 and 2009, Jimmie Johnson. Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports team mate, Mark Martin, will come to the green flag in the third starting position. JPM’s EGR team mate, Jamie McMurray wound up in the fourth starting position for tomorrow’s race.

Montoya could certainly use a victory on Sunday. A Chaser a year ago, he is 21st heading into the Brickyard. He sits 242 points out of the final Chase berth. It would appear that both of the EGR Chevy’s are contenders for the win on Sunday. Again both cars have been strong every since they unloaded off of their haulers.

If Montoya is successful in capturing the win at The Brickyard 400, he would become the first race car driver to win both The Indy 500 and The Brickyard 400, quite a feat. Additionally, if either of the EGR drivers, Montoya or McMurray, were to win the race, Chip Ganassi would be the first car owner to win The Daytona 500, The Indy 500, and The Brickyard 400 all in one year. That would be a monumental victory for motor sports!

Sunday could prove to be a very exciting race at The Brickyard 400. There are a quite few side stories that can possibly unfold, and make for great entertainment:

1. The Ganassi boys and Chip’s place in history;

2. Johnson going for 3 wins in a row at Indy;

3. Gordon trying be a 5 time winner at Indy;

4. A change in the “chasers” standings;

5. Edwards and “Blazingly Bad” Brad K;

6. Could Kurt Busch give Penske his first Brickyard 400;

The story lines could get very interesting before the race comes to it’s conclusion!

Here is the starting lineup for The Brickyard 400.

TILL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

EGR Reveals The GE Light Bulb #1 Car

Leon — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:41:23 +0000

(photo courtesy EGR PR)

Earnhardt Ganassi Racing and GE Lighting announce today that the GE Reveal® Light Bulb brand will be the primary sponsor on the #1 Chevrolet, driven by 2010 Daytona 500 Champion, Jamie McMurray at the June 13 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Michigan International Speedway.

In conjunction with GE’s paint scheme on the #1 Chevrolet, GE will also provide Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates and Target Chip Ganassi Racing with new lighting fixture and bulb technologies for installation in their Concord, N.C. and Indianapolis, Ind. facilities.

The Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing #1 Chevrolet Impala’s bright blue design draws inspiration from the blue coloring of an unlit GE Reveal® light bulb. Race fans should be sure to look for the iconic GE script logo on the hood of the #1 Chevy along with the rainbow-hued logo of GE Reveal® running down the car’s quarter panels.

What do you think of the GE paint scheme for Jamie McMurray at Michigan?

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Montoya Has A Chapped Buttocks!

Leon — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:23:22 +0000

(photo courtesy Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

One might wonder just how much venom would have spewed Sunday after the Las Vegas Shelby American 400, had not Juan Pablo Montoya and Jamie McMurray been teammates? As it was there was plenty spewing out to go around!

The two team mates collided with each other in turn #3 early on in the race at Las Vegas Sunday. Afterwards, JPM was anything but delicate with his angry remarks about his new teammate, who won the season opener, the Daytona 500.

“He( McMurray) ran straight into my ass”, Montoya, who appeared to have had at least a top five car for the Las Vegas race, finished 37th as a results of that wreck, said. “He nearly ran me into the fence (in turn# 2) as well. I don’t know. He is not doing himself any favors.”

“Just Jamie, plain and simple just wrecked us,” the former F1 driver said. “Every time I am around him, he wants to run the s**t out of me! I don’t know if I can say that, but I just did! On the restart, I was inside of him, I think he got tight and never lifted, I didn’t hit the fence because….it was just a miracle. I then arched it into turn 3 and he plain and simple just wrecked us. I am sure on the radio it was, ‘Ah, I didn’t mean that.’ He is trying to prove to people that he can drive a race car and I guess he isn’t doing too many favors on this team.”

McMurray waived off his teammate’s criticisms!

So it this reporter’s opinion that the “honeymoon” is over for the Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing teammates!! Stay tuned for the rest of the serial adventures of, “The Juan and Jamie Show”!

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!