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McMurray wins at Talladega, but Johnson has Sprint Cup title in sight
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TALLADEGA, Ala. — Ryan Newman heard NASCAR president Mike Helton’s terse talk about bump drafting before Sunday’s AMP Energy 500.
That talk didn’t keep Newman from having to be cut out of his car after being involved in a five-car accident on the backstretch of Lap 184. A 13-race accident seven laps later ended the race under caution."The more rules, the more NASCAR is telling us how to drive the race cars, the less we can race and the less we can put on a show for the fans," Newman, who finished 36th, said. "They [NASCAR] have created a lot of boredom because we couldn’t race. It is survival."Jeff Gordon, who was involved in the accident, didn’t think the rule change affected the way the drivers raced Sunday because there was still bump drafting. The ending was inevitable because the big crash always happens at Talladega, Gordon said."Talladega is always on a green-white-checkered, going to be pretty hairy and crazy," said Gordon, who finished 20th. "But I don’t think we had as much of that when the cars didn’t close up as much. But then again, we didn’t have the ability to pass as much."McMurray still lookingHis victory Sunday doesn’t mean Jamie McMurray has a ride for 2010.McMurray, who has two victories for Roush Fenway Racing, knows it’s going to be hard to find a ride for next year because the economy has limited the available jobs. He’s losing his ride with Roush Fenway because the team has to go from five teams to four because of NASCAR rules.McMurray is going to missed by owner Jack Roush."I’d like to be able to go out the back door with Jamie, but I’m not going to be able to do it," Roush said. "I guess we’re going to have to part ways at the end of the year based on going from five teams to four. That’s a great sadness."Gossage OK with finishOne interested spectator for Sunday’s race in Texas was Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage.The wild finish denied Gossage the chance to bill Sunday’s Dickies 500 as a race for the championship.He’ll instead promote it as a chance to see history in the making in Jimmie Johnson’s bid to become the first driver to win four consecutive Sprint Cup titles."Last week a guy said to me that Jimmie Johnson is really lucky," Gossage said. "He’s that good. We’re seeing a guy who’s at the top of his game and is making a case to be right there along the greatest dynasties of all time. We’re on the verge of seeing something that’s never been done in our sport."Anthony Andro, 817-390-7760
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