Jamie McMurray claims victory for JR Motorsports

Kasey Kahne brought the field to the green flag for the Great Clips 300, NASCAR Nationwide Series  race at Atlanta Motor Speedway Saturday night with a near blinding sun off of turns one and two. With pressure from the start from Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman, Kahne steadfastly held his line and prevailed for the first 3 laps before Bush would get by.

But Kahne was not about to give up as he dogged Busch, taking the lead back on lap 11. Kahne could not hold on up front as Bush moved past him again on lap 25.  As the 50 lap mark approached Jamie McMurray was charging forward and moved past Kahne to take second place.  The first caution of the race came for debris on the front stretch on lap 43. The race went green again 4 laps later.

Busch held onto the lead as Michael McDowell spun in turn 2 on lap 61 bringing out the races second caution.  Following pit stops McMurray emerged the leader as the green flag flew on lap 64. McMurray’s lead  only lasted  5 laps as Kevin Harvick roared past to become the fourth leader on lap 70. Harvick fought hard to stay out front and managed to hold off the field until Kyle Busch took over once again on lap 122.
With 50 laps to go in the race the top five included, Busch, McMurray, Harvick, Edwards and Keselowski.

Caution number three came out on lap 148 when Trevor Bayne slid up high on the backstretch just as Ryan Newman was going high to pass him. The contact sent Bayne spinning into the inside wall. As the leaders pitted on lap 149, it was Jamie McMurray once again taking the lead, where he stayed until the fourth caution came out on lap 169 when Reed Sorenson spun on the backstretch.

As the leaders came in for their final pit stops, Brad Keselowski stayed out to take the lead.  However, with fresh tires, Jamie McMurray made quick work of Keselowski taking the lead for the final time. Staying out front, holding off Kyle Busch in the closing laps, McMurray brought the #88 car to Victory Lane for his first NASCAR Nationwide Series win of the year. Busch was followed across the line by Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth.  Rounding out the top ten were Joey Logano, Jason Leffler, Ryan Newman, Paul Menard and Rookie Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

The win was McMurray’s eight win in 179 career NASCAR Nationwide Series races, his last win came at Darlington Raceway on November 13, 2004.  This was his second win and fourth top ten at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Unofficial Results

Pos. St. No. Driver Make Pts. Bon. Laps
1 7 88 Jamie McMurray  Chevrolet 190 5 195
2 2 18 Kyle Busch  Toyota 180 10 195
3 5 60 Carl Edwards  Ford 165 0 195
4 8 33 Kevin Harvick  Chevrolet 165 5 195
5 18 16 Matt Kenseth  Ford 155 0 195
6 10 20 Joey Logano  Toyota 150 0 195
7 12 10 Jason Leffler  Toyota 146 0 195
8 4 1 Ryan Newman  Chevrolet 142 0 195
9 9 98 Paul Menard  Ford 138 0 195
10 13 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. * Ford 134 0 195
11 6 7 Josh Wise  Chevrolet 130 0 195
12 15 22 Brad Keselowski  Dodge 132 5 195
13 20 12 Justin Allgaier  Dodge 124 0 195
14 16 21 Clint Bowyer  Chevrolet 121 0 195
15 17 40 Mike Bliss  Chevrolet 118 0 195
16 33 62 Brendan Gaughan  Toyota 115 0 195
17 14 42 David Gilliland  Dodge 112 0 195
18 23 35 Jason Keller  Chevrolet 109 0 193
19 1 38 Kasey Kahne  Toyota 111 5 192
20 39 34 Tony Raines  Chevrolet 103 0 192
21 32 15 Michael Annett  Toyota 100 0 192
22 35 9 John Wes Townley  Ford 97 0 191
23 29 5 Willie Allen  Chevrolet 94 0 191
24 11 99 Trevor Bayne  Toyota 91 0 191
25 40 28 Kenny Wallace  Chevrolet 88 0 191
26 27 27 Brad Baker  Ford 85 0 190
27 26 81 Michael McDowell  Dodge 82 0 190
28 30 11 Brian Scott * Toyota 79 0 189
29 25 87 Joe Nemechek  Chevrolet 76 0 189
30 36 24 Eric McClure  Ford 73 0 188
31 34 26 Brian Keselowski  Dodge 70 0 184
32 41 70 Mark Green  Chevrolet 67 0 183
33 42 23 Robert Richardson Jr.  Chevrolet 64 0 170
34 3 32 Reed Sorenson  Toyota 61 0 166
35 37 66 Steve Wallace  Toyota 58 0 139
36 22 1 Mike Wallace  Chevrolet 55 0 100
37 21 91 Chase Miller  Chevrolet 52 0 19
38 28 90 Danny O’Quinn Jr.  Chevrolet 49 0 15
39 43 89 Johnny Chapman  Chevrolet 46 0 11
40 31 52 Kevin Lepage  Chevrolet 43 0 3
41 24 92 Dennis Setzer  Dodge 40 0 2
42 19 43 Kevin Hamlin  Ford 37 0 2
43 38 136 Jeff Green  Chevrolet 34 0 1

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

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