Jamie McMurray had had run 28 laps in NASCAR Sprint Cup final practice Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway when his No. 1 McDonald’s Chevrolet began to chatter across the asphalt with a left rear tire down.
McMurray spun in Turn 3 and hit the wall in an accident that was nearly identical to the one suffered by his Earnhardt Ganassi Racing teammate, Juan Pablo Montoya, in opening Cup practice on Friday.
“I actually felt it pop or go flat really early–I just couldn’t get slowed down,” McMurray said after bringing his car to the garage for repairs. “Every time I got on the brakes, it wheel-hopped. I felt like I was going to turn right.
“I was trying to get the car slowed down, and I knew for a long time I just couldn’t get slowed down enough.”
Montoya, who did more damage to his car on Friday, went to a backup but won’t have to drop to the rear for Sunday’s Camping World RV Sales 301 because his mishap occurred before qualifying.
McMurray, though, was loath to give up the 11th-place starting position he earned during time trials, because that would mean dropping to the rear for the start of the race.
“We’re going to try to fix it because we qualified 11th, and it’s really hard to pass here,” he explained. “And I thought our car was really good in practice. It’s definitely the best car I’ve had here at Loudon. So we want to race this car.
“It’s mainly cosmetic. So if they can get the panels out and get it where it’s presentable, I think we’re going to try to race this car tomorrow.”
When the Cup garage closed at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, McMurray, crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion and the No. 1 crew were working feverishly to repair the damage. NASCAR gave the team an extra 30 minutes after closing and will allow the No. 1 crew to resume work 30 minutes before the garage opens at 7 a.m. Sunday.
By then, a fabricator from the EGR shop in Concord, N.C., should have arrived by plane to help complete the repairs.
While other teams were filing out of the garage Saturday, McMurray stayed with his team, circling his car and inspecting the progress.
“I honestly thought we had a top two or three car after about 10 or 15 laps,” McMurray said. “Our car was really fast. I feel good about it–if they can get this car fixed.”
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