Jamie McMurray

[kalasend]

Wow, I just watched the Sonoma Race, the very first NASCAR race for me.

I must admit I do not like NASCAR. But this post is about this Jamie McMurrary guy, whose battle with JPM was a joke.

His driving at Sonoma was totally amateurish. Does he always drive like this(on road courses, at least)? Or is JPM's catching-up totally devastated him?

Watching JPM running behind McMurray, you knew it's only a matter of time that JPM passes McMurray. Complete rubbish driving. I would even go further to say that it would not be difficult to find a few good club racers to beat McMurray. At a road course that is, at least.

[F1boat]

Why do you think so?

[Erki]

This guy probably don't realise how hard it is to get a pole position in one of those roadcourse races... :)

[wedge]

There a lot of drivers out there who could do a lot worse. Ex-champ Matt Kenseth being one!

I think and also the vast majority would probably agree that McMurray did good job.

You have to remember that McMurray wasn't sure he had enough fuel to finish and he had a road racing pro breathing down his neck. His defensive driving was excellent and really made it difficult for JPM all except for that pass because JPM never looked like he was setting up a pass at T2.

I think the amatuerish driving is exaggerated by the COT car. They're real handful to drive because they put an excessive load on the front of the cars hence cars smoking the brakes, excessive camber angles, I even saw Tony Stewart drifting into a corner as he passed Robby Gordon for the lead!

[muggle not]

Just another amateur trying to stir the pot on the Nascar forum. Obviously with no knowledge of Nascar racing.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Kala, no one looks smooth or pretty in these new NASCAR cars they are going to. They are not in any way good cars to road race. Which of course is part of the appeal. When I watched Ron Fellows hopping curbs, sliding and lifting wheels, I KNEW they must be a handful to drive, because he could look smooth turning laps in a Kenworth tractor.

Jamie is actually a pretty good racer, and pretty smooth as a rule, but as it has been said, JPM wasn't worried about fuel, and Jamie was.

NASCAR on a road course used to be fun, and still is, but the newer cars are not graceful in any way. Kala, what you do have to pick up on though is the competitiveness of NASCAR. You could have a road course race with almost 90% of the field on the lead lap after 210 miles, and that is common. Yellow flags or not, this often happens. No other series in the world has this many cars and have them all compete at a high level. Jamie is one of the better drivers at times, so I think you just need to watch more NASCAR.

[tstran17_88]

Complete rubbish driving.That pretty much sums up JPM's driving talent on the ovals so far this season IMO...and that's coming from a JPM fan when he was in F1.

[kalasend]

No I am not trying to stir anything. And I am not criticizing all the drivers. I watched the battle between JPM and McMurrary, and just wanted to comment.

The main thing is, McMurrary turned on defensive mode too early. It was like he saw JPM coming and immediately start to panic. At the end he hurt his own speed and allowed JPM to close up much sooner.

And in no way this is related to fuel saving. Shrinking the race line dimension by ~1 feet for every corner does little to save fuel but hurts speed big time.

Now, I would imagine in NASCAR people dive more bravely(or even gamblingly) to the inside. But McMurray just turned on defensive driving unnecessary early.

[kalasend]

That pretty much sums up JPM's driving talent on the ovals so far this season IMO...and that's coming from a JPM fan when he was in F1.

You know what? I dislike JPM more than anybody when he was in F1. And now he is in NASCAR and seem to show top hand in road courses, honestly that delights me hugely. Ovals? Well, I'm not an oval fan so it doesn't bother me much.

[GARYGAZZA]

Not only was Jamie conserving fuel,Im sure he was aware that he is sitting just outside of the chase and would have had the points for finishing 2nd than go allout for the win and risk running out of fuel and end up with less point.Alas not only did he not win he ran out of fuel too!

[wedge]

No I am not trying to stir anything. And I am not criticizing all the drivers. I watched the battle between JPM and McMurrary, and just wanted to comment.

The main thing is, McMurrary turned on defensive mode too early. It was like he saw JPM coming and immediately start to panic. At the end he hurt his own speed and allowed JPM to close up much sooner.

And in no way this is related to fuel saving. Shrinking the race line dimension by ~1 feet for every corner does little to save fuel but hurts speed big time.

Now, I would imagine in NASCAR people dive more bravely(or even gamblingly) to the inside. But McMurray just turned on defensive driving unnecessary early.

Seriously, I think you're talking rubbish. Even some us Brits saw nothing wrong with McMurray's defensive driving.

Maybe you haven't realised how a NASCAR is completely different to Touring Cars and GTs. NASCARs have to brake earlier and are less nimble. They're the same heavy, clumsy machines that go round ovals except the chassis re-configured to turn left and right.

[kalasend]

......Even some us Brits saw nothing wrong with McMurray's defensive driving.

And Brits are more authoritative when speaking of racing? I learnt something new...

What I saw in the race was, McMurray ran much restrictive line than JPM and start defending when JPM wasn't close enough to overtake.

[DonnieDarco]

The main thing is, McMurrary turned on defensive mode too early. It was like he saw JPM coming and immediately start to panic. At the end he hurt his own speed and allowed JPM to close up much sooner.

Seriously, would you have wanted to see JPM in your mirrors? JPM was tipped as one of the faves to win this race because of all his experience on road circuits, so I don't think anyone can blame McMurray for being defensive.

He did what he was supposed to do, defend his position and hope JPM was unable to pass. Though I disagree with an earlier poster, JPM was worried about fuel too.

Even though JPM did get past him, I still think McMurray did a good job. It was a real shame he ran out and was unable to keep 2nd.

[blakebeatty]

Biffle in INC was saying that the Chip Ganassi racing cars were getting about half a mile per gallon better fuel economy than the Roush/Yates cars

[wbcobrar]

I recently had the oppertunity to watch some COT testing at a track I've been watching stock cars turn laps in since the early 70's. The track was the Milwaukee Mile , a 1 mile oval with nearly zero banking . Testing teams included Rouch , Cinassy , Ginn , D.E.I , Red Bull , and Petty . These cars turn like overloaded dump trucks!!!!!! I sware these cars braked earlyer , accellerated later , and 4 wheel slid more than any car I have ever wittnessed!!!! As a life long fan of NASCAR , and someone who has also spent many weekends at Road America watching some of the best road racing in the world I can see how someone new to Cup cars would scoff at Jamies effort . I'm here to tell you that you are comparing scalples to sledge hammers. I love that NASCAR does road courses , don't get me wrong , but it's not pretty and that's kind'a why it's cool . To be honest I did'nt see the NEXTEL race this weekend so I can't speek to the specifics of McMurries driving (I was at Elkheart again watching June Sprints , real road racing) but I can picture the scenerieo and understand why someone more accustome to GT 1, or even more so open wheel cars would say what you say . Try to imagine a world without traction controle , computer assisted shifting , anti-lock brakes , quiche , and metro-sexual engineers quivering over data boxes and then you may say the 26 car gave it a good run .

[djarumdudley]

Kala, no one looks smooth or pretty in these new NASCAR cars they are going to. They are not in any way good cars to road race. Which of course is part of the appeal. When I watched Ron Fellows hopping curbs, sliding and lifting wheels, I KNEW they must be a handful to drive, because he could look smooth turning laps in a Kenworth tractor.

Jamie is actually a pretty good racer, and pretty smooth as a rule, but as it has been said, JPM wasn't worried about fuel, and Jamie was.

NASCAR on a road course used to be fun, and still is, but the newer cars are not graceful in any way. Kala, what you do have to pick up on though is the competitiveness of NASCAR. You could have a road course race with almost 90% of the field on the lead lap after 210 miles, and that is common. Yellow flags or not, this often happens. No other series in the world has this many cars and have them all compete at a high level. Jamie is one of the better drivers at times, so I think you just need to watch more NASCAR.

for fun at Sonoma check this out. great stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Lsge6sNE3s&mode=related&search=

[Sparky1329]

Pretty cool, dj. They've messed up the track by removing some turns since then. :D :up:

[Hoss Ghoul]

Pretty cool, dj. They've messed up the track by removing some turns since then. :D :up:

There still there, its just NASCAR doesn't use them. The Carousel turn is great.

Good post, wbcorbrar.

[djarumdudley]

your so right! the elimination(at least for Nascar events) of the track from the Carousel up to the old turn seven and the run to the esses might very well be the worst track adjustment ever. in years prior there was incredible action in that area.

Bruton Smith typically done a fine job when repairing/improving his facilities, save for this one.
was the theory less track mileage = more laps = more action?
i can't subscribe to that one when comparing 80s/90s events from Sonoma to the current ones.

[tassiedevilAB]

yeah dj, that is how the result should have been, but with the #7 fushion ending up wining just like the #15 thunderbird in that film.

That was great driving by the 3 of them & it didn't look like there was anybody running out of fue, all the cars were running as hard as they could.

Not like the shocking display that had drivers conserving fuel right to the finish.

All Nascar should have done is give them a competion yellow to fill up so no one had to drive like they did. If that happened the finish would have been better & the spectacle at the track & at home would have been fantastic , to see the drivers going for it!

[Hoss Ghoul]

Probably for better sightlines and to sell more seats.

The Carousel isn't really visible(less than half) from the top of turn 2-3 where a lot of seats are sold. Also, by extending the straight out to the right hander where they come close to the wall then the right to the esses, you can sell seats all along those two very long sections of land. That's just my guess though.

On the other hand, SMI did a great job of cutting the hillsides back to expose more viewing area all around the track-and the carousel and layout used back in the day still sees regular use. I've seen AMLS there a couple of times, and the IRL/Grand Am use it as well.

[tstran17_88]

No I am not trying to stir anything. And I am not criticizing all the drivers. I watched the battle between JPM and McMurrary, and just wanted to comment.
Then comment and leave the F1 arrogance at home!

[Sparky1329]

There still there, its just NASCAR doesn't use them. The Carousel turn is great.

Good post, wbcorbrar.

That's when Sonoma races were really fun to watch.

[wbcobrar]

Hay djarumdudley thanks for the old school cup road race link!!! Now if you dont like watching that , you just dont get it.
There was talk some time ago of the Busch series coming to Road America , they even made a huge expantion of the paddoc area , has anyone heard anything about this rescently ?