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McMurray Wins At Talladega, Johnson Widens Points Lead

Posted: 12:13 pm EST November 2, 2009

(Sports Network) - Jamie McMurray survived another wild and crazy finish at Talladega Superspeedway to win Sunday's Amp Energy 500 and snap an 86-race winless streak in the Sprint Cup Series.

McMurray crossed the finish line in the lead when the caution flag was displayed for a multi-car crash that featured Mark Martin's car flipping on the track during a green-white-checkered finish. McMurray scored his third career Cup victory, but his first since July 2007 at Daytona.

Hours before the start of the race, NASCAR announced during their drivers' meeting a ban on bump-drafting through the turns at the 2.66-mile track. Officials warned drivers an aggressive driving penalty would be assessed for any one caught bumping in the turns.

The 500-mile race ran relatively incident free, as several drivers opted to hang around the back of the pack for most of the day. Then a horrifying crash involving Ryan Newman on lap 184 made it chaotic from there.

Newman hit teammate Tony Stewart and then flipped upside down onto Kevin Harvick's car. Newman slid up to the outside wall and came back down the track before his car barrel-rolled onto the infield grass. Safety officials had to turn his car right-side up and then cut the roof off before he climbed out of his vehicle on his own. He was not injured.

"I'm just really disappointed," Newman said. "We had a race back here in the spring and complained about cars getting airborne, and now I'm ironically the guy who gets upside down.

Newman went on to blame NASCAR for a boring race due to the bump-draft ban.

"I wish NASCAR would do something because it was a boring race for the fans," he said. "That's not something that anyone wants to see, at least I hope not. If they do then go home, you don't belong here."

NASCAR halted the race for almost 13 minutes when officials helped free Newman from his battered car. The accident set up the two-lap overtime finish. McMurray led the way for the final restart and protected his lead before Kurt Busch triggered the 13-car pileup coming out of turn four on the second-to- last lap.

"Luckily Matt Kenseth was right behind me, and Matt's my teammate, and he's also a really good friend of mine," said McMurray, who has yet to secure a ride for the 2010 season. "I had a lot of faith that he would not hang me out at least until one or two to go. And he helped out a lot by being able to when it was two or three wide to get behind me. He had numerous times he could have shot me whether on the inside or outside and he let the record reflected to stay with me, and it made it a lot easier."

Kasey Kahne finished second, while rookie Joey Logano, Greg Biffle and Jeff Burton completed the top-five.

After finishing sixth, Jimmie Johnson is on the cusp of winning his record fourth straight Cup championship. Johnson extended his lead to 184 points over Martin and 192 ahead of Gordon with just three races remaining.

"I feel good about things," Johnson said. "I hate to see so many tore up cars and the big wreck that took place, but for us what really made the difference, obviously we were conservative all day long."

Michael Waltrip came in seventh, followed by Brad Keselowski, who won here in April, Elliott Sadler and Bobby Labonte.

Gordon, who ran out of fuel during the late-race caution finished 20th, while Martin wound up 28th.

"It was just a wreck, and I hope everyone enjoyed the show there," Martin said. "I don't know what it looked like, but it looked pretty exciting from my view point."

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2008 Sprint Cup Schedule

Date Race Venue/Winner
02/17/08 Daytona 500 Ryan Newman
02/24/08 Auto Club 500 Carl Edwards
03/02/08 UAW-Dodge 400 Carl Edwards
03/09/08 Kobalt Tools 500 Kyle Busch
03/16/08 Food City 500 Jeff Burton
03/30/08 Goody's Cool Orange 500 Denny Hamlin
04/06/08 Samsung 500 Carl Edwards
04/12/08 Subway Fresh Fit 500 Jimmie Johnson
04/27/08 Aaron's 499 Kyle Busch
05/03/08 Crown Royal Presents the Your Name Here 400 Clint Bowyer
05/10/08 Dodge Challenger 500 Kyle Busch
05/20/08 Sprint All-Star Race Kasey Kahne
05/25/08 Coca-Cola 500 Kasey Kahne
06/01/08 Dover 400 Kyle Busch
06/08/08 Pocono 500 Kasey Kahne
06/15/08 Michigan 400 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
06/22/08 Toyota / SaveMart 350 Kyle Busch
06/29/08 Lenox Industrial Tools 301 Kurt Busch
07/05/08 Sprint Cup Series 400 Kyle Busch
07/12/08 Chicagoland 400 Kyle Busch
07/27/08 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard Jimmie Johnson
08/03/08 Pennsylvania 500 Carl Edwards
08/10/08 Centurian Boats At The Glen Kyle Busch
08/17/08 3M Performance 400 Carl Edwards
08/23/08 Sharpie 500 Carl Edwards
08/31/08 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 500 Jimmie Johnson
09/06/08 Chevy Rock and Roll 400 Jimmie Johnson
09/14/08 Sylvania 300 Greg Biffle
09/21/08 Dover 400 Greg Biffle
09/28/08 Kansas 400 Jimmie Johnson
10/05/08 Amp Energy 500 Tony Stewart
10/11/08 Bank Of America 500 Jeff Burton
10/19/08 Sprint Cup Series 500 Jimmie Johnson
10/26/08 Pep Boys Auto 500 Carl Edwards
11/02/08 Dickies 500 Carl Edwards
11/09/08 Checker Auto Parts 500 Jimmie Johnson
11/16/08 Ford 400 Carl Edwards

Standings

Sprint Cup
2008 Standings
1Jimmie Johnson----
2Carl Edwards-69
3Greg Biffle-217
4Kevin Harvick-276
5Clint Bowyer-303
6Jeff Burton-349
7Jeff Gordon-368
8Denny Hamlin-470
9Tony Stewart-482
10Kyle Busch-498
11Matt Kenseth-500
10Dale Earnhardt Jr.-557