McMurray ends victory drought

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- "Dude! Seriously?"

That was Sprint Cup Series points leader Jimmie Johnson's reaction when he first met his crew chief, Chad Knaus, in the garage area of Talladega Superspeedway following Sunday's Amp Energy 500.

Johnson had run in the back of the field the entire race, only to finish sixth through a bizarre set of circumstances that ended with Jamie McMurray's unlikely victory over Kasey Kahne that snapped an 86-race winless streak dating to 2007.

Johnson's reaction at his luck - running up a 184-point margin over Mark Martin with just three races remaining - could have easily applied to all of the chaos that enveloped Sunday's race.

There were rule changes outlined two hours before the race by NASCAR President Mike Helton barring bump-drafting in the corners. Seriously?

Three Chase drivers trying to prevent Johnson from winning a NASCAR-record fourth consecutive title - Martin, Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya - ran out of gas and wrecked in the final five laps. Seriously?

The April race at Talladega had a scary ending when Ryan Newman and Carl Edwards got involved in a last-lap wreck that sent Edwards' car flying into the retaining fence. This time, Newman's car got airborne and flipped end over end. Seriously?

When the dust settled - Newman actually wiped dust from his uniform when he was finally extricated from his car - McMurray was there to collect the trophy, if not the attention.

"It's been a long time since I've won, and I want to assure every fan out there that I appreciate this as much as anybody, so thanks to all my fans who have stuck with me," McMurray said from Victory Lane. "I just can't believe it's here again."

Believe it.

Although McMurray is not in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, his win could, at this point in his career, prove just as important as a championship run.

With three weeks remaining in the season, McMurray remains without a ride for 2010. His victory - the third of his Cup career - should certainly help his cause.

"My years here have been good. The performance certainly hasn't been what I expected coming [to Roush Fenway Racing] and almost making the Chase my first few years in Cup," McMurray said.

"Coming over here I thought that it would be kind of a sure bet, and it just hasn't been as good as what it needed to be. Certainly, I'll miss being a part of this organization, but you never know."

Without referring to specific teams, McMurray said the choices were limited for next season.

"Everybody knows what rides there are out there, and, certainly, if a sponsor were to call me that would make it a lot easier," he said. "For me, I just hope that we can get it signed and then announce it whenever they want to so that will make it a little bit easier to sleep at night."

In recent weeks, McMurray's name has been most prominently linked to the opening at Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing's No. 1 Chevrolet, which is being vacated by Martin Truex Jr. at season's end.

A cloud of uncertainty fell over the race before it even started when Helton laid out some new ground rules prohibiting bump-drafting - when two cars touch bumpers in order to increase speed and pass opponents - in all four turns.

Helton said penalties for infractions would be harsh, including the denial of a race victory if the race winner was determined to have used the technique on the last lap.

As it turned out, no penalties were issued in the race.

However, there were complaints from fans who believed drivers overly cautious of the new rule were not eager to mix it up on the track.

"We have sort of out-engineered this race track somehow. You know what I mean?" said Dale Earnhardt Jr., who led nine laps and finished 11th. "We over-engineered, and the technology has sort of passed what they were trying to accomplish here when they built this place."

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