McMurray Does it Again! Scores Second Straight Win!

ROCKINGHAM, N.C., (November 2, 2002) – Jamie McMurray’s victory lane tour continued today as he scored his second consecutive NASCAR Busch Series win in the Sam’s Club 200 at the North Carolina Speedway. It has been another milestone weekend for this rising NASCAR star.

McMurray scored his career best NASCAR Busch Series qualifying position on Friday, placing the No. 27 Williams TravelCenters Chevrolet third on the starting grid. McMurray backed that up with a second-place starting position for Sunday’s Winston Cup race.

“Man, this is unbelievable,” McMurray said. “I feel like I need to pinch myself to make sure that all of this is really happening. I’m so happy for everyone on this Williams TravelCenters team. They deserve all the success that we’re having right now.”

“We have been lucky, but I also believe that we have put ourselves in position to capitalize on someone else’s misfortune the past two weeks,” McMurray added. “If we had not been able to run third today in the closing laps, we would not be here in victory lane. Yes, we’ve been lucky, but we’ve also made our luck too.”

In the early stages of event, McMurray maintained a position in the top five and was running fifth on lap 72. During a pit stop on lap 92, McMurray took four tires and fuel as his crew made a track bar adjustment. Lightning fast work by the Williams TravelCenters crew enabled McMurray to return to the action in the fifth position.

McMurray continued his steady march towards the front and was running third by lap 125. McMurray headed for pit road once again on lap 176 and was fitted with four tires and fuel while his crew made an air pressure adjustment to set McMurray up for a sprint to the finish. 

With a handful of laps remaining, McMurray was running fourth when the race was red flagged for a wreck on the track. After several minutes, the field went back under green with four laps remaining. McMurray quickly shot into third on the restart and looked to be poised for another strong finish, when leaders Jeff Green and Michael Waltrip tangled heading into turn three.

As the leaders’ cars went spinning through the turn, McMurray’s No. 27 machine coasted to the checkered flag and on to victory lane.

McMurray’s NASCAR Busch Series record continues to grow more impressive each week. Including his two back-to-back victories, McMurray has scored six top-five and 14 top-10 finishes during the 2002 Busch Series campaign. McMurray’s victory today also moved him one step closer to the top five in Busch Series points.

McMurray leaves the North Carolina Speedway sixth in points, but is only two points behind fifth-place Jack Sprague and only 67 points behind fourth-place point runner Mike McLaughlin with two events remaining.