Jamie McMurray overcame many things to capture the Daytona 500 yesterday.He overcame being the odd man out at Roush-Fenway Racing. NASCAR mandated that starting this season that each team owner could only put four cars in their stable. With the like of proven winners Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and the young talent of David Regan, McMurray was the driver steaming the glass of Jack Roush's shop.
McMurray sought the familiar face of Chip Ganassi and the Earnhardt-Ganassi team which was created last year out of necessity between Chip Ganassi Racing and Dale Earnhardt, Inc. McMurray had previously driven for Ganassi a few years earlier. Another familiar face, Felix Sabates, drew McMurray back to the stable. His old ride(#42) is currently in the hands of Juan Pablo Montoya. Not a bad ride.
He overcame two red flag stoppages totalling almost two and a half hours to repair a pothole. This is something that no one expected to happen. Between turns 1 and 2, a pothole developed during the race. A piece from Clint Bowyer's splitter was a broken away and it was also believed that the same pothole led the Jimmie Johnson incurring a flat tire. It was caused due to the large amounts of rain dumped on the area and the moisture began working on breaking up the asphalt.
Much is being said about how this pothole virtually ruined the race. Not so. NASCAR deserves major props on two fronts. One, they made sure the track was safe. Two, the race went the entire length. During the stoppages, I did not hear one person affiliated with NASCAR or any of the drivers hollering for the race to be stopped. And there's the measure of all the fans in attendance, too.
