Talladega, AL — November 2, 2009

Raybestos® NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rundown:
 
Jamie McMurray held off Kasey Kahne in a green-white checkered dash to the finish to win the AMP Energy 500 Sunday at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

McMurray took the lead from David Stremme on lap 180 of the 191-lap event and was leading the race on lap 185 when Ryan Newman brought out the fifth caution of the day in spectacular fashion.

Newman, running midway in the lead draft, shot sideways out of the pack at the entrance to Turn 3.  As he spun onto the skid pad in Turn 3, Newman’s car flipped backwards in the air, the rear of his car landing on the nose of Kevin Harvick’s car.  Newman bounced off Harvick, then, still on it’s roof, slid across the track, pounded the outside wall and shot back across into the infield grass where it barrel rolled several times before finally coming to a stop on its roof.  Newman was not harmed in the incident but the race was halted for 12 minutes and 34 seconds for track cleanup.

When the race restarted on lap 190, McMurray got a huge push from Kahne and Joey Logano that kept him at the front of the lead draft.  He was leading the race when the final yellow of the day waved on lap later for a 13-car pileup in the frontstretch tri-oval.

McMurray won for the third time in 255 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races and for the first time in 15 starts at Talladega.  He scored his first victory of the 2009 season and went to victory lane for the first time since he captured the 2007 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.

McMurray averaged 157.213 mph in a race that took 3 hours, 13 minutes and 54 seconds to complete.  There were 58 lead changes among 25 drivers and the race was slowed by six cautions for 23 laps.  
         
Joe Gibbs Racing Rundown:
 
Joey Logano scored a third-place finish at Talladega in just his fourth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series restrictor plate start.  Logano claimed his third top-five of the season and his second in the last three races.  He captured Raybestos® Rookie of the Race honors for the fourth consecutive race and for the 24th time in 2009.

 
Logano scored top-10 finishes in both Talladega races this season.  He placed ninth in the Aaron’s 499 (race No. 9) and is the first driver to score a top-five in the fall race at Talladega since Martin Truex Jr. placed fifth in 2006.  He is just the seventh Raybestos® Rookie to score a top-five in the AMP Energy 500 since 1975.

“We had a decent car,” Logano said.  “Throughout the whole race I put my car in different positions trying to learn as much as I can about being around other cars and what helps and what doesn’t.  I tried to make as many friends out there as I could for the end of the race and be positioned right there at the end.  A lot of it is just being in the right place at the right time missing the wrecks and being ahead of it all. 

 
“It seemed like the last restart I just got behind Kasey [Kahne] and started shoving him and he was able to push the 26 [McMurray] ahead and got our whole lane going.  I had a good restart pushing the 9 [Kahne] and he was pushing that whole row ahead.  That was really what got the third place finish.  It would have been interesting if we’d have had one more lap that’s for sure [smiles]. You never know.  I think anything could have happened.  

“We battled hard all day.  These races are interesting, man.  You ride around the first part and you’re just really making sure that you don’t wreck.  That’s pretty much the main thing and just kind of trying to find friends.  Maybe make decisions that you wouldn’t make at the end of the race just to make a couple friends and try to have someone good at the end pushing you, trying to hook up with those guys again.  That was my game plan most of the time.  I think at the end of the run there we just kept pressing it and pressing it, hoping something would come out of it.”

Logano said he had a simple strategy for the two-lap dash to the finish.

“You just go,” Logano said.  “You can’t have a strategy because you don’t know what’s going to happen.  You don’t know what’s going to play out.  I focused on having a good start and that was the biggest deal.”

Denny Hamlin was sidelined by engine failure at Talladega and left with a 38th-place finish.  Hamlin again had one of the fastest cars before he was sidelined, leading five times for 11 laps before he departed the event.  He dropped to 11th-place in the series championship standings, 11 points behind 10th-place Carl Edwards and 108 ahead of 12th-place Carl Edwards. 

 
“We take one step forward then two back, it seems like but we had a great car, that's for sure,” Hamlin said.  “Our FedEx Camry was strong as anyone, if not stronger, but just couldn't keep it together.  It's a different issue than what we had at Charlotte.  This one looks to be the bottom end, where it was the top end at Charlotte.  There’s no telling what really let go.  It looked like a connector rod, because we got a lot of oil all over the place.  Hopefully it will make our engine department stronger and our team stronger and when we setup ourselves for a championship next year, we won't have mechanical issues and then we'll be able to fight them at the end.”

Kyle Busch posted a 15th-place finish after leading the race twice for four laps.  Busch is 13th in the series points chase, 57 ahead of 14th-place Matt Kenseth.
 
Raybestos® NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Rundown:
 
Kyle Busch got a helpful shove from teammate Aric Almirola off Turn 4 on the final lap to win Saturday’s Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega.  The momentum allowed Busch and Almirola to clear race leader Todd Bodine and post a one-two finish for truck owner Billy Ballew.

Busch won for the first time in three races at Talladega and grabbed his sixth NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory of the season.  He claimed his 15th victory in 66 starts in the series. 

 
The official margin of victory for Busch was a scant .057 seconds.  Ten different leaders exchanged the lead 21 times in the race, setting a new series track records.  The official time of the race was 2 hours, two minutes and 21 seconds.  Seven cautions slowed the event for 28 laps.

Johnny Sauter was the top Raybestos® Rookie, posting a 14th-place finish.  Sauter collected top rookie honors for the 11th time this season and leads Tayler Malsam by 38 points (215-177) in the official Raybestos® Rookie standings.

Sauter and teammate Matt Crafton appeared to be in position to make a run for the lead late in the race.  Crafton was in the outside line with momentum when Sauter, running sixth, pulled in front of him on lap 86 of the 94-lap event.  The move stalled the line led by Sauter and Crafton and try as they might they could not get to the front.      
“I actually cost the 88 [Crafton] the race,” Sauter said.  "If I wouldn’t have pulled up in front of him he probably could have won it.  We just struggled from the word go to the end of the race.  It’s just frustrating.  I hate it but that’s the way it is.”

On lap 91 Rick Crawford’s truck shot sideways in the middle of the lead draft, setting off a chain reaction accident that involved 11 trucks.  Sauter escaped the altercation with minor damage.  He said the incident started when Mike Skinner tried to get in line where there was no room.

“It’s just racing,” Sauter said.  “I mean, he’s trying to make it a hole and there wasn’t a hole and wrecked a bunch of good trucks and we got some damage out of it, too.  I’m just glad to get the heck out of here.”

 
Chris Jones led twice for three laps before he was sidelined by clutch problems.  Jones led for the first time in 22 career starts and claimed WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race honors.  He was credited with a 30th-place finish.
The rest of the class: James Buescher (15th), J R Fitzpatrick (16th), Ricky Carmichael (20th) and Tayler Malsam (27th).   
 
Raybestos® Brakes Status Sheet:
AMP Energy 500                                           
1.  Jamie McMurray       6.  Jimmie Johnson

2.  Kasey Kahne            7.  Michael Waltrip

3.  Joey Logano             8.  Brad Keselowski

4.  Greg Biffle                9.  Elliott Sadler

5.  Jeff Burton              10. Bobby Labonte

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Points:

1. Jimmie Johnson       6,248
2. Mark Martin           6,064        
3. Jeff Gordon            6,056
4. Juan Montoya        6,009 
5. Tony Stewart         5,969
6. Kurt Busch            5,936          
7. Greg Biffle              5,908  
8. Ryan Newman        5,846
9. Kasey Kahne          5,834       
10. Carl Edwards        5,811
 
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Raybestos® Rookie of the Year:
 
1. Joey Logano                236
2. Scott Speed                199
3. Max Papis                  139   

NASCAR Nationwide Series Raybestos® Rookie of the Year:

1. Justin Allgaier              227
2. Brendan Gaughan        217 
3. Michael McDowell     191
4. Michael Annett          188
5. Erik Darnell               156 
6. Scott Lagasse Jr.       154
7. John Wes Townley    129
8. Ken Butler III             87
9. Terry Cook                49

NASCAR Camping World Series Raybestos® Rookie of the Year:

1. Johnny Sauter           215   
2. Tayler Malsam          177
3. James Buescher        163
4. Ricky Carmichael      129
5. J R Fitzpatrick             97
6. Brian Ickler                 95 
7. Chris Jones                 81
8. Brent Raymer             72