BROOKLYN, Mich. – Recovering nicely after a scary accident a week ago at Pocono Raceway, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates driver Jamie McMurray rebounded with a solid fifth-place finish in Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
Sunday’s finish though was no piece of cake. After qualifying eighth on Friday, McMurray battled the handling on his No. 1 McDonalds Chevrolet, but with solid calls from crew chief Matt McCall, the team went forward in the final 45 laps where they climbed from 15th to fifth.
“Yeah, great day for our McDonald’s Chevy,” said McMurray. “We started off really loose. It almost seemed like the track was going through a weird transition at the beginning. Where you get two or three good laps and it almost was like you catch a gust of wind and have to hang on to the car.
“You would slide up the race track, but they did a really good job adjusting on it. We had great pit stops all day and good pit calls and a little lucky with the No. 21 (Ryan Blaney) having a flat, there were a few things at the end that happened for us, but good recovery from what happened with us last weekend.”
McMurray was persistent that the wind seemed to be a huge contributing factor.
“At the beginning of the race it was weird. It seemed like you could run a couple of good laps and then I don’t know if you’d catch a gust of wind or what happened, but it would send the car up the race track. And it wasn’t just me,” he explained.
“I saw the No. 88 (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) and the No. 2 car (Brad Keselowski) going through the same thing. But our guys did a really good job of adjusting on it. We had great pit stops. But overall, it was a great day for our organization.”
Heading to Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway next weekend where he carries an average finish of 16.3 over 14 races, McMurray maintains seventh in the championship standings, gaining one spot after finishing 37th at Pocono, his worst result of 2017.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01
