Pocono pole goes to McMurray
Jamie McMurray has the pole for Pocono and a job for next year.
He’s only really happy about winning the top starting spot.
McMurray turned a lap of 168.761 mph in his No. 42 Dodge Saturday for his second career pole and first since the final race of the 2003 season. While McMurray celebrated the top spot in Sunday’s Pennsylvania 500, he’s unhappy that Chip Ganassi Racing has picked up the option on next year’s contract.
McMurray will leave Ganassi after his contract expires to drive the No. 6 car for Roush Racing in 2007, but hoped he could make the jump after this season. McMurray did not talk about some of the specifics that will keep him with Ganassi for another year, but pledged his full commitment to the team.
“When you race a car, every time you get in it … I don’t think anyone wants to drive all 500 miles and not give all you can,” he said.
McMurray spoke with his crew last week at New Hampshire and fully explained the situation to a team that heard about the driver’s jump to Roush Racing through the Internet.
“That’s tough, but you get in a situation where you can’t talk,” he said. “You try to do the right thing and it always ends up making someone mad. They’re not going to give up on me. I told them I’m going to give a 100 percent.
“I think everyone just understands the deal.”
The deal is this: the 29-year-old McMurray is effectively a lame duck for the 2006 season.
With McMurray sticking with Ganassi, there’s a strong possibility that Mark Martin will extend his farewell tour, delay retirement and race another year for Roush. Martin was hopeful he could move to the Craftsman Truck series next year.
Late charge pays off for Green
David Green grabbed the lead on the second-to-last lap and held off polesitter Clint Bowyer to win the NASCAR Busch Series’ ITT Industries 250 in Fountain, Colo.
The ninth Busch win of Green’s career was his first since Oct. 4, 2003 – a span of 60 races.
“This came at a great time and is a good way to turn things around,” said Green, who started 14th in a Ford. “It was there the whole day, and I knew our car was good. I knew I had him in a lane he didn’t want to be in, and when we got to turn three, it was do or die.
“It played out really well in our favor at the end, and the key was not having any cautions.”
Whitt wins first Truck Series race
Brandon Whitt earned his first NASCAR Truck Series victory, taking advantage of Ron Hornaday Jr.’s spin out in the final turn of the O’Reily 200.
An accident involving Deborah Renshaw brought out the final caution of the race, and Hornaday led Whitt on the restart.
But Hornaday, who has 27 career victories in the series, was forced to slow down because of smoke from Jimmy Spencer’s spin. The two trucks touched and Hornaday spun backwards in Turn 4 at Memphis Motorsports Park in Millington, Tenn.
Hornish earns IRL pole
Sam Hornish Jr. set the pace for Team Penske, recording his series-leading third pole of the season, the sixth of his career and the team’s record eighth during qualifying for the ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 225 at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wis.
Hornish’s two laps were far from perfect, but he still set a league track record when the second averaged 170.296 mph. Even with Hornish’s advice, teammate Helio Castroneves couldn’t steal the spot, but the team managed its seventh front-row sweep since joining the IRL full time in 2002.
Raikkonen starts in top spot
Kimi Raikkonen set the pace in qualifying for the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim, Germany, to gain his fourth pole position of the season.
He clocked the fastest lap time of 1 minute, 14.320 seconds on the 2.842-mile Hockenheim circuit, giving him his seventh career pole.