TALLADEGA, Ala. – Jamie McMurray’s assumption may have cost him an opportunity at his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) championship.
McMurray in his No. 1 Cessna Chevrolet was involved in a five-car crash on Lap 27 in Sunday’s Alabama 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway when his attempt to come to pit road ended with him getting hit from behind by Erik Jones and sending his Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Chevrolet hard into the outside frontstretch wall.
Others collected in the incident included Jeffery Earnhardt who hit McMurray as he came across the race track, Jones and Mark Thompson making his first Cup start since 1992.
McMurray entered the second race in the Round of 12 eighth in points, the final transfer spot for the upcoming Round of 8. However, with his 37th place finish and just 1 point to add to his points total, he’ll likely head to Kansas Speedway next weekend in a must-win situation after dropping to 12th overall, the last of the Playoff contenders.
“Yeah. We wanted to pit a couple of laps earlier, and you’re somewhat dependent on the spotters to tell you when you’re going to pit. You assume everyone is working as a group,” explained McMurray.
“It was my fault. I assumed that they said the 18 (Kyle Busch) was going to let me in, so I thought we were all going to pit. I didn’t even know where the 77 was. When I got on the brakes, I thought we were all coming to pit road as a group. I’ll take the blame for that. I just kind of assumed we were coming to pit road right there. Obviously, not everyone was.”
Jones who slammed into the rear of McMurray insinuated he had nowhere to go when McMurray attempted to squeeze his way in.
“(Kyle Busch) started checking up in front of me and swerved, and (McMurray) was basically stopped on the track, it looked like he was trying to get from the top of the racetrack to the bottom,” he said. “Unfortunately, there’s nothing we could really do. It’s just one of those things that happens here.”
Likely to leave Talladega last amongst the Playoff contenders, McMurray knows what is at stake for the Oct. 22 race In Kansas.
“There’s nothing you can do about it, right? It’s part of Talladega and we know you can come out of here with a lot of points and be a winner, or come out in the position we’re in now, go to Kansas and do our best,” McMurray remarked.
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