McMurray wins Rockingham 200

Elwood · February 24, 2003

By Bruce Martin

SportsTicker Contributing Editor

ROCKINGHAM, North Carolina (Ticker) - Jamie McMurray waited two extra days before showing his dominance by winning Monday's rescheduled Rockingham 200 NASCAR Busch Series race.

The race had been rained out on Saturday.

He led 192 of the 197 laps in the race to win for the second-straight Busch Series race at North Carolina Speedway. The 192 laps led set a Busch series record at this track.

McMurray also won here last fall. Monday's win was his third career Busch Series win with two of those coming at the 1.017-mile track located in the Sand Hills region of North Carolina.

It was McMurray's third Busch Series win in his last six races. He finished ahead of David Green, Todd Bodine, Randy Lajoie and Jason Keller.

"This was an awesome race car," McMurray said. "I have to thank team owner James Finch for hiring me for this ride. We made an adjustment on that final pit stop and nobody could catch me after that."

McMurray is a rookie in the NASCAR Winston Cup series and finished fifth in Sunday's Subway 400.

McMurray took the lead on the opening lap when he blew past pole-winner David Green and never really had to look back.

He led the first 118 laps before the race was red-flagged on that lap following a crash in the first turn involving Shane Hmiel and Mike Wallace. Neither driver agreed on the cause of the crash and had to be separated by Busch Series officials and crew members.

"I got hit in the right-rear corner and pushed up into Mike Wallace," Hmiel said. "I wasn't too happy about it and neither was he."

Replays showed that Larry Gunselman's car clipped Hmiel's after Hmiel tried to clear him following a pass.

After the delay to dry off the track with jet-dryers to blow off the fire extinguisher foam, oil, fluid and rubber, the race resumed with McMurray once again leading the way followed by David Green, Scott Wimmer and Michael Waltrip.

Waltrip moved up through the field and was in second place, ready to challenge McMurray for the lead. With 34 laps to go, Waltrip passed McMurray for the lead, just seconds before a yellow caution flag waved. McMurray had led the first 164 laps of the race.

The leaders came into the pits for the final stop of the race, hoping fresh tires would make the difference. But a lug-nut failed to connect and Waltrip lost his lead in the pits.

There were 16 cars on the lead lap when the freen flag dropped on lap 169 with Kerry Earnhardt in front because he did not pit. McMurray quickly dispatched the two cars that stayed out of the pits and resumed the lead with 29 laps remaining.

One lap later, Gunselman spun on the backstretch to bring out another caution period.

Scott Wimmer, who was challenging for the win, had to pit after a rear tire went flat during the caution period.

The green flag waved with 22 laps remaining and McMurray was in the lead being pushed by Todd Bodine's second-place car.

Chad Blount, a rookie from Walkerton, Indiana, brushed the wall on lap 178 to bring out the ninth caution flag of the race.

The green flag waved on lap 183 after four laps of caution and McMurray began to pull away from Bodine. His car was superior on hotter tires so that allowed him to pull away in the late stages for the victory. Waltrip, who was running fourth with 12 laps to go, got a flat tire to end his bid at challenging for the win.