McMurray beats King Nationwide: The Great Clips 300 Review

Nemechek

Richardson

Howard

by Troy J. on Sep 6, 2010 10:08 PM EDT in NASCAR Nationwide Series

HAMPTON, GA - SEPTEMBER 04: Jamie McMurray, driver of the #88 Hellman's/BJ's Chevrolet, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series Great Clips 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on September 4, 2010 in Hampton, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images)

Nascar's Most Improved Driver Jamie McMurray showed that being hot in Sprint Cup can translate to success in Nationwide. McMurray hasn't scored a Nationwide win since 2004. That last win came at Darlington, in a Rusty Wallace owned Duraflame #66 Chevy, that looks quite a bit like Steve Wallace's current #66 Toyota. Of course, McMurray has only two full seasons in Nationwide, but it's still a pretty good return to form for him.

McMurray has 8 starts this year in the #88, and his lowest finish was at Talladega where he finished 14th - and it was a DNF. So that says a lot. Jamie has an amazing 6.2 average finish in those 8 races.

Kyle Busch was denied his record setting 11th win, but don't think that that means Kyle won't break his own record, and Sam Ard's in the process. Busch finished 2nd, after leading the most laps. It was the first time all year that Busch has failed to win after leading the most laps. Sadly, I fell asleep, or passed out that is, about half way through this race and had to watch my DVR the next morning (Atlanta isn't really known to be a heart stopping action packed event).

I was happy to see McMurray continue to silence his critics.

Race Results and more after the JUMP!

Fin	Str	Car	Driver	Team	Laps	Pts	Bns	Driver Rating	Winnings	Status	Tms	Laps
1	7	88	Jamie McMurray	Hellmann's / BJ's Chevy	195	190	5	133.3	$45,925	Running	3	48
2	2	18	Kyle Busch	NOS Energy Drink Toyota	195	180	10	137.8	$40,575	Running	3	74
3	5	60	Carl Edwards	Fastenal Ford	195	165		115.9	$29,175	Running
4	8	33	Kevin Harvick	Rheem Heating and Air Conditioning Chevy	195	165	5	125.3	$21,550	Running	1	52
5	18	16	Matt Kenseth	World Financial Group Ford	195	155		105.4	$20,550	Running
6	10	20	Joey Logano	GameStop Toyota	195	150		101.0	$18,550	Running
7	12	10	Jason Leffler	ABF Toyota	195	146		95.0	$28,909	Running
8	4	1	Ryan Newman	Phoenix Construction/Ryan Newman Fndtn Chevy	195	142		104.8	$19,570	Running
9	9	98	Paul Menard	Tarkett / Menards Ford	195	138		92.1	$16,825	Running
10	13	6	Ricky Stenhouse Jr. #	Blackwell Angus Beef Ford	195	134		88.0	$24,787	Running
11	6	7	Josh Wise	JR Motorsports Chevy	195	130		88.1	$22,512	Running
12	15	22	Brad Keselowski	Discount Tire Dodge	195	132	5	99.2	$15,325	Running	1	4
13	20	12	Justin Allgaier	Verizon Wireless Dodge	195	124		84.6	$21,262	Running
14	16	21	Clint Bowyer	Zaxby's Chevy	194	121		80.2	$15,125	Running
15	17	40	Mike Bliss	Key Motorsports Chevy	194	118		76.4	$20,637	Running
16	33	62	Brendan Gaughan	Atlanta Title Loans Toyota	194	115		69.2	$20,712	Running
17	14	42	David Gilliland	GetMoreVacations.com / Destin-FWB.com Dodge	194	112		76.9	$14,350	Running
18	23	35	Jason Keller	TriStar Motorsports Chevy	193	109		69.0	$20,287	Running
19	1	38	Kasey Kahne	Great Clips Toyota	192	111	5	100.8	$17,175	Running	2	17
20	39	34	Tony Raines	Long John Silver's Chevy	192	103		59.9	$21,262	Running
21	32	15	Michael Annett	Valvoline Toyota	192	100		66.0	$20,037	Running
22	35	09	John Wes Townley	Zaxby's Ford	191	97		60.4	$19,962	Running
23	29	05	Willie Allen	Owens Corning / 31-W Insulation Chevy	191	94		61.2	$20,287	Running
24	11	99	Trevor Bayne	Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota	191	91		72.1	$19,812	Running
25	40	28	Kenny Wallace	FX Networks / Sons of Anarchy Chevy	191	88		48.3	$20,212	Running
26	27	27	Brad Baker	Baker - Curb Racing Ford	190	85		48.4	$19,712	Running
27	26	81	Michael McDowell	K-Love Dodge	190	82		47.6	$20,062	Running
28	30	11	Brian Scott #	AccuDoc Solutions Toyota	189	79		53.1	$19,612	Running
29	25	87	Joe Nemechek	HostGator.com Chevy	189	76		49.0	$19,562	Running
30	36	24	Eric McClure	Hefty Odor Block Ford	188	73		38.6	$19,787	Running
31	34	26	Brian Keselowski	K-Automotive Motorsports Dodge	184	70		38.1	$19,432	Running
32	41	70	Mark Green	Angel Wings Transport Chevy	183	67		36.4	$19,372	Running
33	42	23	Robert Richardson Jr.	North Texas Pipe / R3 Motorsports Chevy	170	64		38.7	$19,337	Running
34	3	32	Reed Sorenson	Dollar General Toyota	166	61		79.0	$19,652	Accident
35	37	66	Steve Wallace	5-hour Energy Toyota	139	58		64.5	$19,272	Engine
36	22	01	Mike Wallace	Smoky Mountain Cheese Chevy	100	55		52.0	$19,212	Engine
37	21	91	Chase Miller	D'Hondt-Humphrey Motorsports Chevy	19	52		45.6	$12,440	Electrical
38	28	90	Danny O'Quinn Jr.	D'Hondt-Humphrey Motorsports Chevy	15	49		38.2	$12,385	Electrical
39	43	89	Johnny Chapman	Victory in Jesus Racing Chevy	11	46		35.5	$12,345	Suspension
40	31	52	Kevin Lepage	My 3 Sons Vending Chevy	3	43		31.8	$12,280	Vibration
41	24	92	Dennis Setzer	K-Automotive Motorsports Dodge	2	40		31.9	$12,215	Vibration
42	19	43	Kevin Hamlin	Baker Curb Racing Ford	2	37		30.5	$12,165	Vibration
43	38	36	Jeff Green	TriStar Motorsports Chevy	1	34		28.9	$12,080	Transmission

That pesky Brad K. still finished strong, as did Josh Wise, who has shown that he can be competitive.

Mark Green had another terrible run in the #70 letting McDowell and McClure catch up a bit in the race for the top 30 in owner points. Here's the battle:

Nemechek is close to dropping out himself, but as a past Champion he would still be safe the rest of the year.

That about wraps up Atlanta. Join us next week when the Nationwide Boys head under the lights from Richmond, VA for the Virginia College Savings 250! Enjoy!

Tweet Comment 0 comments | 0 recs |