McMurray wins the Great American Race
February 16th 2010 13:11
By Joe Menzer, NASCAR.COM
February 15, 2010
03:35 PM EST
In the end, the 2010 Daytona 500 was about redemption.
On a day of furious racing that turned into a cold night as a hole in the asphalt threatened to swallow NASCAR's biggest race whole, the finish, surprisingly, was overflowing with redeeming qualities.
Sure, there was Dale Earnhardt Jr. charging through the pack like a driver possessed -- whipping what remained of the sellout crowd into a frenzied state. Earnhardt being in it at the finish is never a bad thing for NASCAR. After a disappointing season that yielded a career-worst finish in the point standings, Earnhardt had to be feeling a little redemption for himself Sunday. As a direct result, Daytona International Speedway was granted some on a date in which it did not cover itself in typical glory and didn't really deserve it.
But the real Kings of Redemption resided in Victory Lane afterward, and Earnhardt, despite his late-race heroics, finished second.
Winning driver Jamie McMurray was there along with car owners Chip Ganassi and Felix Sabates. The three were reunited after last season -- when McMurray found himself the odd man out at Roush Fenway Racing at the same time Ganassi and Sabates discovered themselves short one driver following the departure of Martin Truex Jr. to Michael Waltrip Racing.
"As a kid growing up, this is what you dream of -- of being able to win the Daytona 500," a beaming McMurray told reporters in the DIS media center afterward.
Reunited and it feels so good
Oddly enough, McMurray got his start in the Cup Series in 2002 with the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates organization (which, now, because of a merger last year has been renamed Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates). McMurray first visited a Cup Victory Lane in only his second race, at Charlotte Motor Speedway, having replaced veteran Sterling Marlin following Marlin's season-ending neck injury.
While racing full time for Ganassi and Sabates in the next three seasons, McMurray never did win another race. But he did finish respectably in the point standings, finishing no lower than 13th. That included finishes of 11th and 12th, respectively, the first two years of the Chase, when 10 drivers, and not the 12 under the current format, qualified for the chance to win the title.
Then McMurray left. A more lucrative contract beckoned at Roush Fenway Racing, along with the supposed lure of a better chance to win races and compete for championships.
Four years and only two wins for McMurray later, team owner Jack Roush needed to cut one car and driver loose from his five-car stable to comply with NASCAR rules limiting organizations to four. McMurray was the odd man out.
Ganassi, who heads up Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, took him back with open arms. Well, first McMurray had to do a little begging ... but only a little.
It wasn't the first time a driver employed by Ganassi had left him, only to return later when the asphalt did not prove smoother elsewhere. Ganassi openly admits that he can't always pay drivers what they might make elsewhere -- and until last season when he put driver Juan Montoya in the Chase, his promise of putting said drivers in top-notch equipment, quite frankly, often rang hollow.
Again, as with McMurray, Sunday was a day of redemption for Ganassi.
"In terms of bringing Jamie back, like I've said earlier, it certainly wasn't anything that was acrimonious when he left us," Ganassi said. "Believe me, I would have been perfectly happy keeping all these guys I bring back who seem to have some success. I would have been perfectly happy keeping them in the first place.
"But I've always thought that we've tried to put our money into the cars and the engines. I don't have a lot. I don't have the biggest jet over at the airport there and the flashiest trucks. We're in the business of racing. I don't want to take anything away from anyone else, but we have to spend our money wisely."
An emotional McMurray added of the Daytona 500 triumph: "It just means so much. You know, for me to be in the position that I was four or five months ago -- to have Chip and Felix and [No 1 car sponsor] Bass Pro Shops welcome me into their organization -- it means a lot. It's a great way for me to be able to pay those guys back."
Different day, different driver
McMurray is quick to point out that he is a different person -- and a different driver -- than he was the first time he passed through a Ganassi-led organization. When he stepped in for Marlin with six races left in the 2002 season, Marlin, immensely popular with fans, was sitting fifth in the points.
"When I first came and drove for Chip and Felix in 2002, I was very overwhelmed with the environment that I was put in," McMurray said. "That was big shoes [to fill] to get in Sterling's car. I mean, a huge learning curve."
When a win came quickly, it perhaps came at a price. It made everyone involved think, at least ever so briefly, that perhaps it was all going to be too easy for McMurray to keep making return trips to Victory Lane.
When it wasn't and he had the chance to go elsewhere to see if it could be easier there, he jumped at it. And when it didn't happen at the other place, McMurray had to, at times, battle the beginnings of self-doubt that threatened to creep in.
But when the opportunity came for a return to his Cup roots, so to speak, McMurray immediately felt comfortable with the idea.
"I've told you guys [in the media] every time you've asked me: it's been a lot easier coming back to this organization than it was when I left and went to Roush because I already knew everybody here," McMurray said. "I've said that it was very warm and welcoming to me when I got to the shop. It's everything from the guys in the fab shop to the accountants ... I mean everywhere throughout the shop. I'm very comfortable and I know everybody. I think that has made this transition easier than if I went to an organization I didn't know."
Meanwhile, Ganassi and Sabates -- who have been at this a long, long time with little in the way of tangible results at the NASCAR level to really show for it -- ultimately felt the same way about bringing back McMurray. On Sunday, all were rewarded for their faith in each other and in Ganassi's long-held belief that his tremendous success in other forms of racing could eventually translate to the stock-car side.
"Like Jamie said, from a little boy, you think about winning this race," Ganassi said. "I think back to how I got started in racing -- whether it's with little cars, go-karts, slot cars, then obviously driving, the IndyCar successes we've had, the sports-car successes. There was always some question about, is our NASCAR team up to the task?
"You know, putting a car in the Chase last year sort of, I think, validated the way we run the business. Hopefully this [victory] did that as well."
Sabates added: "We got beat up a little bit. ...We've taken our criticism from the press. But Chip is a very focused person. If you cut his veins, he's got motor oil coming out of them. He never wavered from the plan he had."
The plan never really included letting McMurray get away in the first place. But like the forgiving father in the Bible's parable of the prodigal son, Ganassi was waiting and willing to welcome the driver back when the timing was right for both. You might say Ganassi even slaughtered a calf and threw a party upon McMurray's return, or at least he took him to dinner.
Now they even often dine together during race weekends, or at least they did during their first reunited ones in 2010 -- with spectacular end results. Forget the calf. Now, together, they have slayed the Daytona 500 dragon.
"He's my car owner, but he's also my friend. I think that's really important," McMurray said of Ganassi. "I think that's something I haven't had in the last four years."
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