CONCORD, N.C. – Perhaps the most underappreciated of all the surprises from the end of Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway was Jamie McMurray’s runner-up finish in the No. 1 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing.
McMurray, who has endured a dismal season and already knows he won’t be back with Ganassi’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series squad next year, ran a quiet but solid race around the 17-turn, 2.28-mile course en route to his best finish of the season, bettering a third-place run from Texas in April.
In fact, McMurray’s effort at the Charlotte ROVAL was his best Cup Series result in more than a year. The last time he finished second or higher was in May of 2017 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, when he finished as the bridesmaid to race winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Sunday marked a high point for McMurray in a season filled with bumps in the road, and it was certainly something that he smiled about following the checkered flag, especially considering he was able to avoid two crashes ahead of him inside of the final six laps to pick up positions.
“Our DC Solar Chevy was really good all day long. I’m very happy with our result here,” said McMurray. “We got a little bit off in the last pit sequence and were a little bit behind, but had a really good car and then we had the one restart when Brad (Keselowski) was on the front row and I happened to be on the inside … and that was the lane to be in so you could avoid the wreck.
“On the last restart, I got a good restart being on the outside … but I’m a little bit disappointed only because my left-side mirror fell off in the chicane with like 25 laps to go and I ended up having to let the No. 12 (Ryan Blaney) go because I couldn’t see if he was inside of me. I don’t think he was. If that wasn’t the case, I might be the guy in victory lane now versus finishing second, but overall it was a fun day. There are positives here.”
McMurray, a driver with past experience at the Rolex 24 at Daytona Int’l Speedway, was among those pleased with Charlotte’s new 17-turn, 2.28-mile ROVAL layout after racing on it for the first time Sunday.
“I thought Marcus (Smith) and the team here did a really good job getting the track ready,” McMurray praised. “It’s crazy that we ran a road course inside of this facility, but it’s a really great place.”
While his season has only featured two top-five and seven top-10 finishes – statistically his worst year since 2012 – McMurray was determined to look on the bright side of things after his run at the ROVAL.
“This isn’t what we come here to do as a team, because we want to come out and win the race, but it’s a shot in the arm for us after the way a lot of these races have gone for us most of the year,” McMurray noted. “We’ve had speed but a lot of our results haven’t showed it. To finally have a good day is really motivating for us heading down the stretch.
“We’ll look to build on this and see if we can get a few more strong finishes before the end of the year.”
