Talladega Nets an 11Th-Place Finish for Mcdonald’S Team
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Results (with starting position) from the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway 1. (4) No. 88, Earnhardt, Jr. Chevrolet SS 2. (5) No. 48, Johnson Chevrolet SS 3. (7) No. 27, Menard Chevrolet SS 11. (27) No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet SS (McMurray) 42. (13) No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS (Larson) Talladega Nets an 11th-Place Finish for McDonald’s Team NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) hosted the second restrictor-plate race of the 2015 season in the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (TSS). The No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet SS rolled off from the 27th position and survived the big crashes including a final lap incident that helped McMurray advance from 19th to an 11th-place finish. After a somewhat disappointing qualifying effort on Saturday morning at TSS, the No. 1 team turned their focus to Sunday’s 188-lap race that is often just about survival. McMurray quickly advanced to the front of the field within the first 10 laps of the race where he competed most of the day, finishing with an average running position of 13.6 position (ranked 12th among 43 competitors). Just before halfway, McMurray reported that he might have a tire going flat as the car seemed to lose speed and wasn’t handling well compared to earlier in the race. Crew chief Matt McCall made some major adjustments on the ensuing pit stop and got the McDonald’s Chevy handling better. McMurray was able to pilot the No. 1 machine to an 11th-place finish, narrowly missing a third consecutive top-10 finish. With his finish, McMurray moved up two positions and is now ranked seventh in the NSCS point standings. NOTES OF INTEREST Seventh-place in the NSCS standings is the highest that McMurray has ever been in the point standings after 10 races This was McMurray’s best finish at Talladega since his victory in in Oct. 2013 McMurray ranked third among closers, which ranks the number of positions improved in the last 10% of the race, by gaining 12 positions in the final 19 laps of the GEICO 500 The GEICO 500 was slowed by caution six times for 23 laps and one red-flag for about 12 minutes CGRFS Quoteboard: Jamie McMurray – No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet SS: – “I am really excited to just finish with a whole car. We got lucky on the last lap to avoid all of the wrecking and made it through untouched. I didn’t think that we were going to make a run to the front with five laps to go, but in typical Talladega style, things got interesting and we picked up a lot of positions. Great job by the McDonald’s team today with good pit stops and adjustments.” Wreck Results in Early Exit for Larson at Talladega For the second time this season, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) headed to a superspeedway, with Talladega Superspeedway playing host for the GEICO 500. Larson’s weekend got off to a positive start as the car showed good speed and he earned his highest position at Talladega. However, Larson’s race was cut short after he was collected in a large wreck on Lap 47 with the damage too great to the No. 42 Target Chevrolet to return to the race. As cars took to the track on Friday, the Target Chevy showed good speed as Larson ran in the draft during the first practice session. With a change at Talladega away from group to single-car qualifying, Larson spent the second practice making single-car runs, where again he showed good speed. During Larson’s one timed lap during the first round of qualifying he posted the 13th fastest time, just missing transferring to the final round but earning his best start at Talladega. Following a solid qualifying effort, Larson looked to have a strong Chevy for Sunday’s race. Unfortunately though, Larson’s day came to an end 47 laps into the race when he was caught up in a large wreck on the backstretch. The Target team quickly went to work in the garage assessing the damage, but ultimately decided that the car was too compromised to return to the race. With the finish, Larson dropped to 24th in the NSCS driver point standings. NOTES OF INTEREST: This is the first time in three attempts that Larson has not completed the race at Talladega The caution flag was shown six times for a total of 23 laps The race was red-flagged for 12 minutes following the wreck on Lap 47 in which Larson was involved During the race the lead changed 27 times amongst 15 drivers TCGRFS QUOTEBOARD Kyle Larson – No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS – “The good news is that our car was fast, but unfortunately I got caught up in the first big wreck. I thought I was going to miss it, but got into another car while trying to avoid contact and started spinning. We’ve been somewhat unlucky so far this season, and would probably be in a better position in the standings if it weren’t for some unfortunate events. We have some work to do to get back up in the points and contend for a spot in the Chase, but our cars continue to be fast, we just need to keep pushing forward. I am confident that we will get there.” NSCS teams will run the SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway next Saturday, May 9. FOX Sports 1, Sirius XM NASCAR Channel 90 and MRN Radio will have live coverage at 7:30 p.m.ET. About Chip Ganassi Racing Teams Chip Ganassi has been a fixture in the auto racing industry for over 25 years and is considered one of the most successful as well as innovative owners the sport has anywhere in the world. Today his teams include four cars in the Verizon IndyCar Series, two cars in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and one Prototype in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. Overall his teams have 17 championships and over 160 victories, including four Indianapolis 500s, a Daytona 500, a Brickyard 400, six Rolex 24 At Daytonas and the 12 Hours of Sebring. Ganassi boasts state-of-the-art race shop facilities in Indianapolis and Brownsburg, Ind. and Concord, N.C., with a corporate office in Pittsburgh, Pa. For more information log onto chipganassiracing.com .