McMurray wins 2010 Brickyard 400

The 2010 Brickyard 400 came down to one choice in the pits—take four tires, or take two tires.

Lucky for Jamie McMurray, his crew made the right, and the winning, decision, as McMurray was able to drive his way to victory.

McMurray’s crew decided for two tires, while other drivers, such as Greg Biffle, opted for four during a pit stop late in the race.

“I thought I had a flat tire on the front, but I knew if we put four tires on, we weren’t going to have a chance to win,” McMurray said. "Man, when it is your day, it is your day. Everything just worked out. Our pit crew did a great job getting us off pit road really fast every time.

“It is just remarkable.”

Greg Biffle, one of the drivers who took four tires during that fateful pit stop, felt had he chosen two, he would have been the victor, not McMurray.

“We would have pulled it off. We would have won that race if we would have put two tires on and that and that’s just as simple as it gets,” Biffle said. “Woulda, shoulda, coulda. It’s hard when we haven’t won in a year-and-a-half and Ford hasn’t won up to this point. That’s pretty hard.”

Biffle, who finished in third place and led 38 laps, said that the difference between getting two and four fresh tires is a bigger deal than one might think.

“It’s like you got brand-new tires when you’re out front, it’s like you have 20-lap tires when you’re six car lengths behind a guy," Biffle said. "The thing just stops. Just slides all four tires.”

However, taking fewer tires can be a gamble for teams if a late caution occurs, but McMurray had luck on his side, and the decision ended up creating some history.

With McMurray's win, who races for Chip Ganassi Racing, taking the checkered flag today, Chip Ganassi has become the first owner to win the Daytona 500, the Indianapolis 500, and the Brickyard 400 in the same year. McMurray also won the Daytona 500, and Dario Franchitti brought Ganassi the other Indianapolis win.

Things weren’t always so great with Ganassi Racing, as the team was called unstable as recent as last year, and McMurray wasn’t even sure where he would be racing this time last season. But Ganassi relates the team’s turnaround to hard work, and of course a little luck.

“I’ll tell you what, I’m speechless,” Ganassi said. 'I'm lucky and privileged to be in this business. I am honored to work with the people I work with ... I'm the luckiest guy on the planet.

“You wouldn’t dare dream this, you wouldn’t dare dream this kind of year. That is the kind of year it has been.”

And Ganassi is right. Having teams in both NASCAR and IndyCar at the same time is rare, and having them all have the fortune to win races at Indy and Daytona during the same year is nearly impossible to imagine. Winning the Brickyard 400 also can be more difficult for the Sprint Cup drivers, as they only race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway once a season.

His accomplishment is one that will never be repeated, said Kevin Harvick.

“I think as race teams and race drivers and owners and sponsors, you come into the year, if you’re in the IndyCar Series, you want to win the Indy 500; if you’re in the Cup Series you want to win here and you want to win at Daytona,” Harvick said.

“To win all those in one year is remarkable. It will probably never happen again.”
And while winning the trifecta of races is extraordinary, it did not come as a surprised that a Ganassi team won today, but McMurray wasn’t the favorite.

Rather, his fellow teammate, Juan Pablo Montoya, was dubbed the favorite after qualifying on the pole.  As the race delved on, it looked as if Montoya would be able to revenge the speeding penalty he was slapped with late in 2009’s race, and win his first Brickyard 400. A win this year would have been his second win on the IMS track, as he won the 2000 Indianapolis 500.

However, after leading 86 laps, he wrecked with just 15 laps to go, and was forced to retreat to the garages. He finished in 32nd place.

Having the favorite of the race delve out so close to the finish, and the winner both under the same owner can be a difficult situation.

 But Ganassi, who had not yet had the chance to speak with Montoya, said that the Colombian was probably already over the mishap and ready for the next race.  However, Ganassi responded in good spirits about what he would say to Montoya about the race.

“Should’ve taken two (tires),” Ganassi joked.

And he has a good reason to be happy, as several of the last Brickyard 400 winners have used the momentum from Indy towards winning the Chase. This is particularly true with Chevrolet drivers, which McMurray is, as six times in the last 12 years a Chevy driver has won the Brickyard and later went on to win the championship. The most recent to do so is Jimmie Johnson, who won the Brickyard and the Cup championship in both 2008 and 2009.

However, McMurray isn’t as interested in the key component of the Chase as some drivers are, as he said he doesn’t pay attention to the points competition or where he is in relation to the top-12.  In fact, making the Chase is not the most important thing for the season to McMurray.

“I think you show up every week and you do your job and if you make the Chase, that’s wonderful,” he said. “Everyone wants to make the Chase. But getting to win the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 this year means more to me than making the Chase.

“In 10 years the guy that won both those races one year is the guy everybody will talk about. Whoever finishes second or third in the Chase, nobody is going to care about.”