Jamie McMurray started the 2010 season of the Nascar Sprint Cup Series with a surprising victory in Daytona 500.
On a sunny afternoon, with a full crowd at the Daytona International Speedway, McMurray had the perfect setting to take the win.
After a poor season last year, McMurray had to leave the Roush Fenway Racing Team due to his lackluster performance and the NASCAR rule change, which allowed a maximum of four cars per team. Now with a new team, the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team, McMurray can truly relish his victory.
Taking the first event of the year with a new team, McMurray might now be able to focus on leaving behind the bad moments from last season. He showed great potential during the race, and at the same time demonstrated his desire to place his name on the list of NASCAR’s best drivers.
Mark Martin started from pole position at Daytona. McMurray, driving the #1 Chevrolet Impala, started in thirteenth from the exit line. From there, he stood firm, trying to resist the strong pressure from those behind him. Focusing on staying close to the leading group, McMurray sought to scale positions whenever he had the chance.
The race was a close one from the very beginning. During the first 100 of the 200 scheduled laps, there were no setbacks; only three caution flags appeared, and only for minor accidents.
The first position, however, was hardly constant. Fifteen different drivers led the race on 24 occasions. The one big surprise was AJ Allmendinger, who remained leader for 11 consecutive laps.
Upon arriving on lap 122, problems began to appear. Due to damage on the track, apparently caused by heavy rain on the previous days, the race was stopped with a red. Several yellow flags also appeared in the second half of the race.
The competition was stopped for nearly two hours while a hole in the track was repaired. After returning to the track, the pilots’ positions varied. Now it was Kevin Harvick who led the race, followed by Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex Jr. These three drivers disputed first place, followed by a strong group of cars that also sought a better position.
Lap after lap, the excitement grew more intense. When the adrenaline of all drivers was at its peak, the race was stopped once again at lap 161, due to the same problem: a hole in the track.
The restart almost took an hour, and there were only 32 laps left. Again there was a strong battle for first place and the competition again developed with the same enthusiasm as at the beginning.
Aware that the pavement could be damaged again, the drivers struggled to do their best to complete the challenge.
Changes in the positions began to appear. Harvick was placed in front after the second restart. In the midst of all the action, McMurray began to shine, working his way up to place himself in first with only two laps left to end the race.
With a short but superb demonstration of talent, McMurray managed to contain the attacks of his closest rivals until he crossed the finish line in first place.
Author Resource:-
Stephen Lars has been a prominent writer on daily NASCAR races; sports news and the sports book industry for many exceptional sport web sites. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.articleshmarticle.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
