Jamie Mac Wins Underwhelming Brickyard, Completes Sweep

If NASCAR drivers are big money athletes then no driver is more money this year than Jamie McMurray. McMurray sealed his reputation as a prize driver on Sunday, kissing the bricks and winning the Brickyard 400 in the same manner in which he won February’s Daytona 500.
McMurray became just the third driver to win both the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same season on a Sunday that saw contenders drop like flies. Heavy favorites Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon battled their cars and finished outside the top 20, while the first 15 laps witnessed 12 cars fall down a lap.
Juan Pablo Montoya dominated the race for a second straight year, leading 86 of 160 laps but again fell just short in sealing the deal.

Details and unofficial results after the fold.

With passing a premium, the race was won and lost on pit road. With 23 laps left, the caution brought the field to pit road and Montoya’s crew elected to pit four tires over two. McMurray and five others chose two tires and Montoya was mired in traffic.
Montoya’s handling went away over the final run and his day would come to an end after crashing into Dale Earnhardt Jr. on lap 149. Montoya started on the pole and finished 32nd. Dissapointed two years in a row, Montoya and crew chief Brian Pattie were not available for comment.
McMurray pulled away from points leader Kevin Harvick over the final ten laps and shut the door on the competition winning his second race of the 2010 season. With six races until the Chase cutoff, McMurray now finds himself only 151 points out of 12th with a ton of momentum on his side. It is an unlikely destination but so was winning at both Daytona and Indy.
McMurray’s car owner Chip Ganassi has now won all three of the top North American championship auto races, having won at Daytona with McMurray and with Dario Franchitti in IndyCar’s Indianapolis 500.
Onward to Pocono.