Contact Ruins Strong Run for McMurray, Brewco’s No. 37 Yard-Man Ford in Vegas

Las Vegas, NV (March 12, 2007) – Jamie McMurray avoided 11 of Saturday’s 12 cautions flags, but his Vegas luck ran out with only nine laps to go in the Sam’s Town 300. McMurray was hit from behind by another competitor, ending a top-15 run for Brewco Motorsports’ No. 37 Yard-Man Ford Fusion at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

McMurray qualified the No. 37 Yard-Man Ford high in the field in 15th place. From the drop of the green flag, he reported loose conditions to Crew Chief Newt Moore.

“Everyone was loose this weekend,” McMurray said. “I wasn’t having any turning issues early on, but I knew we needed to be tighter so we could go faster.”

As the race progressed, the cautions flags started flying. The No. 37 Brewco crew pitted early and often to work on the loose conditions being reported by McMurray. The Yard-Man Ford was in ninth place on lap 105 when McMurray pitted for two tires and fuel. He received a penalty from NASCAR on that stop for being too fast entering the pits. After the pass-through penalty, McMurray was in 22nd place, one lap down.

The Brewco Yard-Man team battled against the setback and got the lucky dog after a caution flag flew on lap 134. Back on the lead lap in 16th place, McMurray and the Brewco crew began charging into the top 10.

McMurray narrowly missed a wreck on lap 139 and continued to head toward the front of the pack. Unfortunately his progress was halted by a spinning No. 9 car on lap 191, which set off the race’s 12th and final caution. McMurray avoided the initial wreck, but was hit from behind by the No. 41 car on lap 191 as the caution flag flew. The contact caused significant damage to the rear of the Yard-Man Ford, forcing Crew Chief Newt Moore to send the car back to the garage. The Brewco team finished the day in 29th place.

“I was really proud of Jamie for hanging in there and staying after it all day,” said Moore. “Our guys really worked their tails off on the Yard-Man Ford all weekend and especially in the pits during the race. We were so close to a strong finish and just got taken out at the end. It’s not the way we wanted to finish the weekend.”

“I really want to thank the Brewco guys for working on the car and making all the adjustments we had to make during the race,” McMurray said. “I hate it for Yard-Man and for Brewco that we finished where we did, but I’ll be back for the Texas race and I know we’ll rebound then. I’m looking forward to it.”

Next for the No. 37 Brewco Ford will be the Nicorette 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday March 17. Greg Biffle will be behind the wheel of the Cub Cadet Ford Fusion. Television coverage of the race begins at 2:30 pm EST on ABC.