Pam Digrandi
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Martinsville
October 29th, 2017
Practice 1: P8
Practice 2: P6
Start: P16
Finish: P29
Sponsor: McDonald's
At Least We Finished
Here we are at race #7 of the NASCAR Playoffs and it takes us to the paperclip at Martinsville Speedway for the First Data 500. Jamie McMurray may be out of the playoffs, but this is still one of his best (and favorite) tracks and I was hoping that he played the "spoiler" like Dale Earnhardt Jr. did a few years ago.
This was one of those 2 day weekends that NASCAR was experimenting with so there was no on-track activity Friday. On Saturday NASCAR went "old school" and had 2 practice sessions, one in the morning and the second one taking place after the truck race.
Qualifying, to see where they would line up, took place before the race on Sunday. NASCAR used the previous week's qualifying order to determine where teams were to pit for this race. Since Jamie had qualified 8th for the Kansas race the week before, crew chief Matt McCall chose the very last pit stall because no other drivers really like pitting on the turn. Jamie had gotten up to the 2nd round in qualifying here, just not as good as years past. He started 16th.
Stage 1: There was a competition caution chosen for lap 45 due to some weather that had come through during the overnight hours and the morning. But, the caution flag flew at lap 35 for Ty Dillon and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. while running 12th. We came in to pit here for the usual 4 tires and fuel. Crew chief Matt McCall called for a wedge adjustment to help fix a loose handling race car. He reported to the driver that the tires looked good after that stop. During this stage nothing really went on and he ended it 17th. The car wasn't all that great.
We restarted stage 2 in the same position that we ended the 1st stage, 17th. It doesn't help any when the car just doesn't want to turn so Jamie brings the car in for 4 tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment. The 11 car had a speeding penalty which moved us up to 16th. Not long after that stage started it appeared that the 77 has gotten into us, yet once again!
At lap 166 we ended up having to pit, but this time to fix a tire rub because spotter Tyler Green said it was smoking. We most certainly do not want another incident here like in the spring. After that stop we were 2 laps down. Not a bad situation. However, for whatever reason Jamie had to come back down pit road, yet once again, to fix the fender. What happened? Did they NOT fix it the first time??
We are 4 laps down after this. Frustrating! After all of that it looked as though the car had gotten better?! It certainly looked faster on the track. We did get 1 lap back by going around the leaders. Jamie ended stage 2 33rd, 3 laps down.
The 3rd and final stage did not look promising. While McCall tried gambling on cautions to try and get some laps back, the cautions never fell in our favor. The McDonald's Chevy ended the race in the 29th position, 2 laps down. On to Texas Motor Speedway for the 3rd last race of the 2017 season.
Follow and chat with me here: @spottergal188
All photos by Pam Digrandi
October 29th, 2017
Practice 1: P8
Practice 2: P6
Start: P16
Finish: P29
Sponsor: McDonald's
At Least We Finished
Here we are at race #7 of the NASCAR Playoffs and it takes us to the paperclip at Martinsville Speedway for the First Data 500. Jamie McMurray may be out of the playoffs, but this is still one of his best (and favorite) tracks and I was hoping that he played the "spoiler" like Dale Earnhardt Jr. did a few years ago.
This was one of those 2 day weekends that NASCAR was experimenting with so there was no on-track activity Friday. On Saturday NASCAR went "old school" and had 2 practice sessions, one in the morning and the second one taking place after the truck race.
Qualifying, to see where they would line up, took place before the race on Sunday. NASCAR used the previous week's qualifying order to determine where teams were to pit for this race. Since Jamie had qualified 8th for the Kansas race the week before, crew chief Matt McCall chose the very last pit stall because no other drivers really like pitting on the turn. Jamie had gotten up to the 2nd round in qualifying here, just not as good as years past. He started 16th.
Stage 1: There was a competition caution chosen for lap 45 due to some weather that had come through during the overnight hours and the morning. But, the caution flag flew at lap 35 for Ty Dillon and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. while running 12th. We came in to pit here for the usual 4 tires and fuel. Crew chief Matt McCall called for a wedge adjustment to help fix a loose handling race car. He reported to the driver that the tires looked good after that stop. During this stage nothing really went on and he ended it 17th. The car wasn't all that great.
We restarted stage 2 in the same position that we ended the 1st stage, 17th. It doesn't help any when the car just doesn't want to turn so Jamie brings the car in for 4 tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment. The 11 car had a speeding penalty which moved us up to 16th. Not long after that stage started it appeared that the 77 has gotten into us, yet once again!
At lap 166 we ended up having to pit, but this time to fix a tire rub because spotter Tyler Green said it was smoking. We most certainly do not want another incident here like in the spring. After that stop we were 2 laps down. Not a bad situation. However, for whatever reason Jamie had to come back down pit road, yet once again, to fix the fender. What happened? Did they NOT fix it the first time??
We are 4 laps down after this. Frustrating! After all of that it looked as though the car had gotten better?! It certainly looked faster on the track. We did get 1 lap back by going around the leaders. Jamie ended stage 2 33rd, 3 laps down.
The 3rd and final stage did not look promising. While McCall tried gambling on cautions to try and get some laps back, the cautions never fell in our favor. The McDonald's Chevy ended the race in the 29th position, 2 laps down. On to Texas Motor Speedway for the 3rd last race of the 2017 season.
Follow and chat with me here: @spottergal188
All photos by Pam Digrandi
Chicagoland
September 17th, 2017
Practice 1: P16
Practice 2: P19
Happy Hour: P13
Start: P19
Checkers: P10
Sponsor: McDonald's/Cessna
Hello Playoffs
Starting off the round of 16 of the NASCAR Playoffs at the Tales of the Turtles 400 from Chicagoland Speedway! We started off a little sluggish in the 19th position. This race was not one of our better qualifying efforts, but I guess that is a good problem to have. It was a very quiet day and not much happened so here is a quick recap.
Stage 1 consisted of 80 laps, stage 2 80 laps and final stage 107 laps. By lap 5 Jamie had driven up 3 spots to p16. Lap 41 was time for some green flag stops so Jamie McMurray comes in for 4 tires, fuel and adjustments to fix a loose handling McDonald's/Cessna Chevrolet SS. Since there was hardly any cautions there was another round of green flag stops upon us so Jamie comes in for 4 tires, fuel, wedge and air pressure adjustments to try and fix a still loose handling race car. We finished the stage p12 so no stage points here.
Stage 2 was a whole lot of the same. 0 stage points. We need stage points badly if we have any hope of moving onto the round of 12 in the next round of the playoffs. We at least started the stage off in the top 10 and stayed there for most of the rest of the race. At lap 167 the caution came out when Jamie and Ryan Newman got together, but thankfully no damage and Jamie brought the car in for four tires and fuel. No harm, no foul! Dodged a bullet there. After that there was 1 more caution in which the pit crew continued their great work and kept us in contention for a top 10 and that's where we finished, p10. Great work team! Get 'em in New Hampshire!
Follow and chat with me here: @spottergal188
September 17th, 2017
Practice 1: P16
Practice 2: P19
Happy Hour: P13
Start: P19
Checkers: P10
Sponsor: McDonald's/Cessna
Hello Playoffs
Starting off the round of 16 of the NASCAR Playoffs at the Tales of the Turtles 400 from Chicagoland Speedway! We started off a little sluggish in the 19th position. This race was not one of our better qualifying efforts, but I guess that is a good problem to have. It was a very quiet day and not much happened so here is a quick recap.
Stage 1 consisted of 80 laps, stage 2 80 laps and final stage 107 laps. By lap 5 Jamie had driven up 3 spots to p16. Lap 41 was time for some green flag stops so Jamie McMurray comes in for 4 tires, fuel and adjustments to fix a loose handling McDonald's/Cessna Chevrolet SS. Since there was hardly any cautions there was another round of green flag stops upon us so Jamie comes in for 4 tires, fuel, wedge and air pressure adjustments to try and fix a still loose handling race car. We finished the stage p12 so no stage points here.
Stage 2 was a whole lot of the same. 0 stage points. We need stage points badly if we have any hope of moving onto the round of 12 in the next round of the playoffs. We at least started the stage off in the top 10 and stayed there for most of the rest of the race. At lap 167 the caution came out when Jamie and Ryan Newman got together, but thankfully no damage and Jamie brought the car in for four tires and fuel. No harm, no foul! Dodged a bullet there. After that there was 1 more caution in which the pit crew continued their great work and kept us in contention for a top 10 and that's where we finished, p10. Great work team! Get 'em in New Hampshire!
Follow and chat with me here: @spottergal188
Image Courtesy: @Cupscene on Twitter
Last Chance!
Saturday, September 9th, 2017
Practice 1: P15
Practice 2: P13
Start: P11
Checkers: P14
Sponsor: McDonald's
Federated Auto Parts 400 from Richmond Raceway. The last and final chance to make it into NASCAR's 10 race Playoffs. Who's going to make it in? Jamie can either make it in with a win or race his way in. It's close...Mediocre practices, but qualifying 11th helped.
Three stages 100+100+200=400 laps in this race to get it done! The start of the race was okay. Moved up a couple of spots to 8th by lap 16. Jamie radioed the team and said he was really loose at the moment which put him back down to 10th. The caution flag flew at lap 34 for Landon Cassill spinning. We pitted for tires and fuel and came off pit road just as we came in, 10th. On the restart though the car appeared to have no rear grip hence falling all the way down to 16th.
By lap 88 the caution came back out and we had fallen back to 19th so Jamie brings the #1 McDonald's Chevy to pit road for 4 tires, fuel and adjustments. He finished stage 1 p14 and 0 stage points. At the end of this stage they bring the car back down for 4 tires and fuel. Stage 2 had absolutely nothing going on. Jamie got 0 stage points throughout the race.
All that Jamie had to really do was finish 17th or better if there was no new winner. Mission accomplished. No new winner. He finished 14th. Teammate Kyle Larson won the race. Therefore, HE'S IN!! This will be Jamie McMurray's 3rd consecutive season to make NASCAR's "other" season. Congratulations Jamie and crew!
Follow and chat with me here: @spottergal188
Saturday, September 9th, 2017
Practice 1: P15
Practice 2: P13
Start: P11
Checkers: P14
Sponsor: McDonald's
Federated Auto Parts 400 from Richmond Raceway. The last and final chance to make it into NASCAR's 10 race Playoffs. Who's going to make it in? Jamie can either make it in with a win or race his way in. It's close...Mediocre practices, but qualifying 11th helped.
Three stages 100+100+200=400 laps in this race to get it done! The start of the race was okay. Moved up a couple of spots to 8th by lap 16. Jamie radioed the team and said he was really loose at the moment which put him back down to 10th. The caution flag flew at lap 34 for Landon Cassill spinning. We pitted for tires and fuel and came off pit road just as we came in, 10th. On the restart though the car appeared to have no rear grip hence falling all the way down to 16th.
By lap 88 the caution came back out and we had fallen back to 19th so Jamie brings the #1 McDonald's Chevy to pit road for 4 tires, fuel and adjustments. He finished stage 1 p14 and 0 stage points. At the end of this stage they bring the car back down for 4 tires and fuel. Stage 2 had absolutely nothing going on. Jamie got 0 stage points throughout the race.
All that Jamie had to really do was finish 17th or better if there was no new winner. Mission accomplished. No new winner. He finished 14th. Teammate Kyle Larson won the race. Therefore, HE'S IN!! This will be Jamie McMurray's 3rd consecutive season to make NASCAR's "other" season. Congratulations Jamie and crew!
Follow and chat with me here: @spottergal188
Managed a Top 10 Finish
September 3rd, 2017
Bojangles' Southern 500
Darlington Raceway
Practice 1: P7
Practice 2: P3
Qualifying: P5
Checkers: P10
Sponsor: McDonalds
Ahhh. There's nothing like spending a holiday weekend at the track watching a bunch of cars running paint schemes from about 30 years ago that I had the pleasure of attending for the 3rd year in a row. Up until about a week or so before the race it did not look like the 1 of Jamie McMurray was going to run a throwback for the race. I can't honestly say if I had any influence in that decision but they did quite well putting SOMETHING together. I (along with others) on Twitter had been asking owner, Chip Ganassi, if both Jamie and Kyle Larson will be running throwbacks this year. I got an answer from the president of Chip Ganassi Racing, Steve Lauletta, saying that they would be on it if we wanted one. Jamie had a David Pearson Hawaiian Tropic 1 car from 1980. Very nice looking car!
It's hard to believe that we are now just 1 race left until the end of the "regular season" with only 2 chances to get yourself locked in if you have not done so as of yet. As far as points go, Jamie is ok, but if there is a new winner he will need a win himself to get in. He runs pretty good here so that should help.
Stage 1 consists of 100 laps so here we go Darlington Raceway! Started in the 5th position. Lap 18 a caution while running 6th Jamie comes in from the 6th for 4 tires and fuel and came out p9. Jamie had been quiet on the radio for the beginning of the race so not much going on there. Just a lot of cat and mouse stuff with Matt Kenseth and ultimately finished stage 1 p7. After pitting the crew chief tells the driver that the tires looked good, so on to stage 2!
We restart 8th to begin stage 2, also 100 laps, and by lap 107 we get around the 4 car for 7th place. Did not take long to get back down to 9th by lap 115. Restarts were meh as it looks like we were not set up for a short run car. A caution at lap 125 we come in 9th and after getting 4 tires and fuel we restart 9th, didn't lose, didn't gain. Right after the restart we went back down to 11th. Lap 155 for yet another caution while still running 11th. Thanks to Matt Kenseth using a bunch of spots on pit road we start 10th. We actually jumped all the way on up to 8th here with Chase Elliott breathing right down our neck. Lap 197 we ended the stage when Gray Gaulding goes around. We end stage 2 p8.
Final stage! 167 laps! Here we go! We came in to pit after stage 2 when we had to replace a hose for a gear fan and had to restart 23rd after a penalty for having too many men over the wall while trying to fix this issue. Ahhh this brings back ice hockey memories LOL! The good news is that the crew got it all fixed. Nice work, gentleman!
Lap 206 a caution for David Ragan so we came down for 4 tires and fuel. In 23rd, out 23rd. Passing was certainly at a premium this evening, good grief! By lap 214 Jamie had moved up 3 spots to 20th. Thinking that the track had finally rubbered up because Jamie started hauling the mail, after 14 laps he was up to 15th! Then at lap 249 the green flag stops had started so we came in for 4 tires and fuel coming in from the 12th spot with a 11.7 second pit stop! The boys were on it for sure!. Figures. Lap 260 a caution comes out for debris so we decide to pit here for 4 tires and fuel. Jamie restarted 12th, but went down to 14th quickly.
Jamie radioes the crew telling them he may have a flat, he wasn't sure. Spotter Tyler Green tells him that it may be because the 24 was all over him that last lap. Apparently, it wasn't anything because we never heard another word about it. "Better than the next 6 in front" Spotter Tyler Green while running 13th on lap 292. By lap 300 we are back to green flag stops and Jamie brings the 1 Chevy to pit road for 4 tires and fuel and we cycle back around to p13. Jamie and team managed a top 10 finish! Way to go team!
Have a look below at my pics from the race.
Follow and chat with me here: @spottergal188
September 3rd, 2017
Bojangles' Southern 500
Darlington Raceway
Practice 1: P7
Practice 2: P3
Qualifying: P5
Checkers: P10
Sponsor: McDonalds
Ahhh. There's nothing like spending a holiday weekend at the track watching a bunch of cars running paint schemes from about 30 years ago that I had the pleasure of attending for the 3rd year in a row. Up until about a week or so before the race it did not look like the 1 of Jamie McMurray was going to run a throwback for the race. I can't honestly say if I had any influence in that decision but they did quite well putting SOMETHING together. I (along with others) on Twitter had been asking owner, Chip Ganassi, if both Jamie and Kyle Larson will be running throwbacks this year. I got an answer from the president of Chip Ganassi Racing, Steve Lauletta, saying that they would be on it if we wanted one. Jamie had a David Pearson Hawaiian Tropic 1 car from 1980. Very nice looking car!
It's hard to believe that we are now just 1 race left until the end of the "regular season" with only 2 chances to get yourself locked in if you have not done so as of yet. As far as points go, Jamie is ok, but if there is a new winner he will need a win himself to get in. He runs pretty good here so that should help.
Stage 1 consists of 100 laps so here we go Darlington Raceway! Started in the 5th position. Lap 18 a caution while running 6th Jamie comes in from the 6th for 4 tires and fuel and came out p9. Jamie had been quiet on the radio for the beginning of the race so not much going on there. Just a lot of cat and mouse stuff with Matt Kenseth and ultimately finished stage 1 p7. After pitting the crew chief tells the driver that the tires looked good, so on to stage 2!
We restart 8th to begin stage 2, also 100 laps, and by lap 107 we get around the 4 car for 7th place. Did not take long to get back down to 9th by lap 115. Restarts were meh as it looks like we were not set up for a short run car. A caution at lap 125 we come in 9th and after getting 4 tires and fuel we restart 9th, didn't lose, didn't gain. Right after the restart we went back down to 11th. Lap 155 for yet another caution while still running 11th. Thanks to Matt Kenseth using a bunch of spots on pit road we start 10th. We actually jumped all the way on up to 8th here with Chase Elliott breathing right down our neck. Lap 197 we ended the stage when Gray Gaulding goes around. We end stage 2 p8.
Final stage! 167 laps! Here we go! We came in to pit after stage 2 when we had to replace a hose for a gear fan and had to restart 23rd after a penalty for having too many men over the wall while trying to fix this issue. Ahhh this brings back ice hockey memories LOL! The good news is that the crew got it all fixed. Nice work, gentleman!
Lap 206 a caution for David Ragan so we came down for 4 tires and fuel. In 23rd, out 23rd. Passing was certainly at a premium this evening, good grief! By lap 214 Jamie had moved up 3 spots to 20th. Thinking that the track had finally rubbered up because Jamie started hauling the mail, after 14 laps he was up to 15th! Then at lap 249 the green flag stops had started so we came in for 4 tires and fuel coming in from the 12th spot with a 11.7 second pit stop! The boys were on it for sure!. Figures. Lap 260 a caution comes out for debris so we decide to pit here for 4 tires and fuel. Jamie restarted 12th, but went down to 14th quickly.
Jamie radioes the crew telling them he may have a flat, he wasn't sure. Spotter Tyler Green tells him that it may be because the 24 was all over him that last lap. Apparently, it wasn't anything because we never heard another word about it. "Better than the next 6 in front" Spotter Tyler Green while running 13th on lap 292. By lap 300 we are back to green flag stops and Jamie brings the 1 Chevy to pit road for 4 tires and fuel and we cycle back around to p13. Jamie and team managed a top 10 finish! Way to go team!
Have a look below at my pics from the race.
Follow and chat with me here: @spottergal188
Final Road Course of the Season
August 6th, 2017
Notable Notes:
Sponsor: McDonald's
Practice 1: P4
Practice 2: P6
Qualified: P9
Checkers: P14
I Love NY 355- It’s hard to believe that this was the last road course of the season already. This season is going so fast it seems. There is only 5 races remaining until the “playoffs” begin and things are getting crazy. Time is running out for those currently outside the top 16. For the bottom 3 of Chase Elliott, Matt Kenseth and Jamie McMurray, I’m sure time isn’t moving fast enough. Quite frankly those 3 teams can’t afford a new winner.
This race is one of those qualifying and race day all-in-one days and NASCAR plans on condensing even more races next season to help with travel costs for the teams. Practice and qualifying for Jamie and the 1 team was good throughout the short weekend. At least he qualified well, in 9th place. He would have done better if he hadn’t missed a couple of turns in the final round that slowed him down. He had been p1 in at one point during round 1 of quals. Glad to see that we are not lacking speed, so that’s good news. Just have to figure out the fuel mileage races such as this one…
Stage 1 was not that eventful (20 laps) because it went caution free. Jamie ended it p6, at least we got some stage points out of this stage. Crew Chief Matt McCall has decided to do a little bit different strategy for this race by going for a 2 pitstop race going for stage points. It was going well until it was time to get their pitstop in. Pitting on lap 28 (green flag stop) there was an issue getting the 2 front tires off of the car making for a very costly 42 second stop. Perhaps a little bit of damage from earlier? I don’t know. Chase Elliott was on the same pit strategy, but had not yet pit, putting the 1 team down a lap temporarily.
Stage 2 (20 laps) had nothing going on either that would warrant any other caution besides maybe a couple of drivers spinning which wasn’t anything but just a little drama. They were all able to continue on without further incident. On the other hand Jamie and crew had to dig out of the hole that was from earlier with not many laps between lap 28 and lap 40 for the end of stage 2, ending it in 34th place. No stage points this time. We need to get at least 1 stage win before Chicago next month. This is crazy.
Third and final stage of the race (50 laps) with nothing much to say about this one either. Restarted the race back in the 34 position, last car on the lead lap. Lap 53 a caution came out for the 3rd and final time of the day for the #34 of David Ragan losing a tire and littering the track with debris. Jamie drove through the field up 14 positions to 20th when the yellow flag flew. He pitted for fuel only on this stop and restarted in 2nd place! Not long after that he radioed to the team that he had lost rear grip and was starting to fade. He came in for fuel with 10 laps remaining because they were short on fuel. That ended a potential top 10 run and he brings the Chip Ganassi Racing McDonald’s Chevrolet home in the 14th position. 4 more races to go...
Follow and chat with me here: @spottergal188
August 6th, 2017
Notable Notes:
Sponsor: McDonald's
Practice 1: P4
Practice 2: P6
Qualified: P9
Checkers: P14
I Love NY 355- It’s hard to believe that this was the last road course of the season already. This season is going so fast it seems. There is only 5 races remaining until the “playoffs” begin and things are getting crazy. Time is running out for those currently outside the top 16. For the bottom 3 of Chase Elliott, Matt Kenseth and Jamie McMurray, I’m sure time isn’t moving fast enough. Quite frankly those 3 teams can’t afford a new winner.
This race is one of those qualifying and race day all-in-one days and NASCAR plans on condensing even more races next season to help with travel costs for the teams. Practice and qualifying for Jamie and the 1 team was good throughout the short weekend. At least he qualified well, in 9th place. He would have done better if he hadn’t missed a couple of turns in the final round that slowed him down. He had been p1 in at one point during round 1 of quals. Glad to see that we are not lacking speed, so that’s good news. Just have to figure out the fuel mileage races such as this one…
Stage 1 was not that eventful (20 laps) because it went caution free. Jamie ended it p6, at least we got some stage points out of this stage. Crew Chief Matt McCall has decided to do a little bit different strategy for this race by going for a 2 pitstop race going for stage points. It was going well until it was time to get their pitstop in. Pitting on lap 28 (green flag stop) there was an issue getting the 2 front tires off of the car making for a very costly 42 second stop. Perhaps a little bit of damage from earlier? I don’t know. Chase Elliott was on the same pit strategy, but had not yet pit, putting the 1 team down a lap temporarily.
Stage 2 (20 laps) had nothing going on either that would warrant any other caution besides maybe a couple of drivers spinning which wasn’t anything but just a little drama. They were all able to continue on without further incident. On the other hand Jamie and crew had to dig out of the hole that was from earlier with not many laps between lap 28 and lap 40 for the end of stage 2, ending it in 34th place. No stage points this time. We need to get at least 1 stage win before Chicago next month. This is crazy.
Third and final stage of the race (50 laps) with nothing much to say about this one either. Restarted the race back in the 34 position, last car on the lead lap. Lap 53 a caution came out for the 3rd and final time of the day for the #34 of David Ragan losing a tire and littering the track with debris. Jamie drove through the field up 14 positions to 20th when the yellow flag flew. He pitted for fuel only on this stop and restarted in 2nd place! Not long after that he radioed to the team that he had lost rear grip and was starting to fade. He came in for fuel with 10 laps remaining because they were short on fuel. That ended a potential top 10 run and he brings the Chip Ganassi Racing McDonald’s Chevrolet home in the 14th position. 4 more races to go...
Follow and chat with me here: @spottergal188
Rollin' into work on a Friday...#KidsDriveNASCAR #TeamJMac pic.twitter.com/foAPRnujcG
— Chip Ganassi Racing (@CGRTeams) August 11, 2017
Great Long Run Car
March 19th, 2017
The next stop on the NASCAR goes west tour takes us to Phoenix, AZ for the Camping World 500. We welcome back Cessna for this race in the "Valley of the Sun" where Jamie and team are looking to put them into victory lane for the first time. The team's short track program has been very good this season and that sure would've been nice. Instead he gets his 2nd worst finish of the season thus far in 15th. It's still not bad, but a win would still be nice. We have quite a few short tracks coming up on the schedule, so maybe... Not much happened during this race, but here are some interesting tidbits from the race.
Stage 1: Consisting of 75 laps, we started the race in 5th which is great! We stayed in the top 10 for this entire stage (yay). At lap 28 the caution flag flies for the first time in the race for the 83 of Corey LaJoie getting into the wall while we are running 5th. Jamie then brings the car in for the first pit stop of the day to fix an issue with being loose on entry for 4 tires and fuel and restarts in 4th. Nice job, pit crew! Chase Elliot ended up getting around us for the 4th spot and we ultimately finished this stage in 5th!
Stage 2: Also consisting of 75 laps, we come in for a pit stop at lap 78 for 4 tires, fuel and to fix a tight in center and loose in and off. He was still loose on entry after that last stop as well. So we came in 5th and restarting 5th. Lap 99 we dropped down to p 9 after the 48 gets around us, but quickly got back up to 7th shortly there after getting back around the 48 and then the 88. Spotter Tyler Green tells Jamie that he was the fastest car on the track. At lap 117 the yellow flag flies again for the 83 into the wall, again. We were p7 at the time and Jamie comes onto pit road for 4 tires, fuel, wedge adjustment. Matt McCall and team really needed to get the car dialed into run better on short runs, but just couldn't get it done. We ended this stage p6.
Final stage: 162 laps, here we go! After ending stage 1 in 6th, we restart 6th, too. Went down to to 9th after that restart, but a caution came out for Matt Kenseth hitting the wall hard after a tire went down at lap 192. We came in p9 during that caution and came out 13th due to a slow stop. Shortly thereafter another caution this time for Cole Whitt getting into the wall and was p11 at the time and restarted 9th. Joey Logano brings out the next caution and Jamie comes in for just 2 tires setting up the end of the race. Restarted 10th and on the bottom and lost a ton of spots and brings it home 15th. At this point in the season, Jamie is now up to 8th in points heading into Fontana, CA next week.
Follow and chat with me here: @spottergal188
March 19th, 2017
The next stop on the NASCAR goes west tour takes us to Phoenix, AZ for the Camping World 500. We welcome back Cessna for this race in the "Valley of the Sun" where Jamie and team are looking to put them into victory lane for the first time. The team's short track program has been very good this season and that sure would've been nice. Instead he gets his 2nd worst finish of the season thus far in 15th. It's still not bad, but a win would still be nice. We have quite a few short tracks coming up on the schedule, so maybe... Not much happened during this race, but here are some interesting tidbits from the race.
Stage 1: Consisting of 75 laps, we started the race in 5th which is great! We stayed in the top 10 for this entire stage (yay). At lap 28 the caution flag flies for the first time in the race for the 83 of Corey LaJoie getting into the wall while we are running 5th. Jamie then brings the car in for the first pit stop of the day to fix an issue with being loose on entry for 4 tires and fuel and restarts in 4th. Nice job, pit crew! Chase Elliot ended up getting around us for the 4th spot and we ultimately finished this stage in 5th!
Stage 2: Also consisting of 75 laps, we come in for a pit stop at lap 78 for 4 tires, fuel and to fix a tight in center and loose in and off. He was still loose on entry after that last stop as well. So we came in 5th and restarting 5th. Lap 99 we dropped down to p 9 after the 48 gets around us, but quickly got back up to 7th shortly there after getting back around the 48 and then the 88. Spotter Tyler Green tells Jamie that he was the fastest car on the track. At lap 117 the yellow flag flies again for the 83 into the wall, again. We were p7 at the time and Jamie comes onto pit road for 4 tires, fuel, wedge adjustment. Matt McCall and team really needed to get the car dialed into run better on short runs, but just couldn't get it done. We ended this stage p6.
Final stage: 162 laps, here we go! After ending stage 1 in 6th, we restart 6th, too. Went down to to 9th after that restart, but a caution came out for Matt Kenseth hitting the wall hard after a tire went down at lap 192. We came in p9 during that caution and came out 13th due to a slow stop. Shortly thereafter another caution this time for Cole Whitt getting into the wall and was p11 at the time and restarted 9th. Joey Logano brings out the next caution and Jamie comes in for just 2 tires setting up the end of the race. Restarted 10th and on the bottom and lost a ton of spots and brings it home 15th. At this point in the season, Jamie is now up to 8th in points heading into Fontana, CA next week.
Follow and chat with me here: @spottergal188
Image Courtesy: @Gearwrench on Twitter
NASCAR Goes West: Take 1!
March 12th, 2017
Notable Notes:
Practice 1: p11
Practice 2: p14
Happy Hour: p19
Sponsor: Credit One Bank/Cessna
Here we go! It's that time of year again when the teams in NASCAR all head west for the annual western swing! Starting it off we are at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Kobalt 400 where within the last week or two, it was awarded a 2nd Cup date starting in 2018. They will be hosting a playoff race in addition to this one. So, it's a good thing that CGR teams and especially Jamie McMurray have improved their 1.5 mile programs this year.
Las Vegas also happens to be the home of Credit One Bank who is one of the main sponsors for the 1 car for this race along with Cessna. This was a quiet race for Jamie and the 1 team. He practiced okay and qualified in the 10th position.
Stage 1 happenings: At lap 18 the caution comes out for Corey LaJoie, while running 12th Jamie brings the car in for 4 tires and air pressure adjustment and restarts p11. At lap 70 after the caution came out for Kevin Harvick hitting the wall Jamie comes in for 2 right side tires to get set up to finish the stage. He restarted 2nd and finished 6th.
Stage 2 musings: Stage 2 for Jamie was about the same thing as stage 1. He restarted in 13th and settled into the 22nd and 21st positions for about 30 laps or so before making a charge up to 15th after a lap 152 caution for Derrick Cope. Jamie brings the car in for 4 tires. He restarted 14th and completed stage 2 in the 8th position.
Final stage to the checkers had the 1 car restarting p13 after the 4 tire pit stop. Jamie and crew finished the race in 8th place and up to 11th in the standings! Keep those great finishes coming!
Follow and chat with me here: @spottergal188
March 12th, 2017
Notable Notes:
Practice 1: p11
Practice 2: p14
Happy Hour: p19
Sponsor: Credit One Bank/Cessna
Here we go! It's that time of year again when the teams in NASCAR all head west for the annual western swing! Starting it off we are at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Kobalt 400 where within the last week or two, it was awarded a 2nd Cup date starting in 2018. They will be hosting a playoff race in addition to this one. So, it's a good thing that CGR teams and especially Jamie McMurray have improved their 1.5 mile programs this year.
Las Vegas also happens to be the home of Credit One Bank who is one of the main sponsors for the 1 car for this race along with Cessna. This was a quiet race for Jamie and the 1 team. He practiced okay and qualified in the 10th position.
Stage 1 happenings: At lap 18 the caution comes out for Corey LaJoie, while running 12th Jamie brings the car in for 4 tires and air pressure adjustment and restarts p11. At lap 70 after the caution came out for Kevin Harvick hitting the wall Jamie comes in for 2 right side tires to get set up to finish the stage. He restarted 2nd and finished 6th.
Stage 2 musings: Stage 2 for Jamie was about the same thing as stage 1. He restarted in 13th and settled into the 22nd and 21st positions for about 30 laps or so before making a charge up to 15th after a lap 152 caution for Derrick Cope. Jamie brings the car in for 4 tires. He restarted 14th and completed stage 2 in the 8th position.
Final stage to the checkers had the 1 car restarting p13 after the 4 tire pit stop. Jamie and crew finished the race in 8th place and up to 11th in the standings! Keep those great finishes coming!
Follow and chat with me here: @spottergal188
Image Courtesy: ChipGanassiRacing.com
Adversity
March 5, 2017
Notable notes from the Folds of Honor Quik Trip 500:
Sponsor: McDonald's
Practice 1: P2
Practice 2: P12
Start: P7
Checkers: P10
Points Standings: P12
After the disappointing finish last week in Daytona this Jamie McMurray 1 team came ready to compete in Atlanta. A fast car right off of the truck to be p1 in first practice until Ryan Newman moved him down to 2nd, I would say that they were ready! Jamie ended up qualifying p7 for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, but quickly fell back on lap 2 due to getting into the 22 of Joey Logano thankfully suffering no damage from that. Jamie then settled into the 11th position for a few laps or so.
By lap 20 the McDonalds Chevy was back in the top 10 and Jamie radioed the team telling them that he was too loose, which seemed to be everyone's complaint and before we knew it segment number one was over and he ended up p16 in that one, so no bonus points there. Jamie was lucky enough to hold on to that position due to tire wear because he was close to going a lap down to current leader, Kevin Harvick. If it wasn't for Kurt Busch being behind McMurray in 17th, Jamie would've gone a lap down. After pit stops and coming in 16th, the pit crew got him out 4 spots higher in p12. Jamie radioed the team and told them, " Good job, guys". Couldn't agree more there.
Now here's where things get interesting. At lap 152 spotter Tyler Green tells Jamie that he is running good lap times. Soon after that, Jamie gets on the radio and tells the crew that he thinks he's running out of fuel or something because his gauges are not working properly, so crew chief Matt McCall tells him to check the battery switch and go to battery 2. They then determined that it was more of an alternator issue after it was not charging. So, for the remainder of the race they would be switching back and forth between both batteries and changing them out at pit stops. The pit crew did a fantastic job all day keeping McMurray in the game eventually finishing segment 2 in p11. No bonus points this race from either segment.
McMurray began the final stage in the 12th spot and after getting that battery changed he was certainly off to the races! He took those new volts and shot all the way up to the 5th spot on the outside lane. The announcers on FOX even joked about him being just like his teammate, Kyle Larson, being on that high line. Kyle then decided he wanted that 5 spot putting Jamie to 6th. By lap 208 he was down to p10. At lap 239 while running p8 a debris caution was called and the 1 car was called down to pit road to change a battery as to not have the same problem as earlier. Great call there, Matt McCall! Left pit road p12 with the help of Tyler Green telling the team where the pace car was as to not fall a lap behind.
I'm guessing that McMurray was pretty lucky to not have the problems that both the 3 car and the 31 car had with their battery issues. RCR did not fair so well. At lap 309 Austin Dillon brings out the 6th and final caution for stopping on the apron and McMurray brings the car for servicing with 15 laps to go. Going in p12 gaining 1 position to 11th. He gets to p10 due to race leader Harvick getting a pit road speeding penalty! On the final restart he got up to 9th, but then Harvick got around him for that spot to pass the finish line and take the checkers in 10th. Way to go, McMurray and team for hanging in there and getting a much needed top 10 finish and jumping 8 spots in the standings to 12th!
Next up for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is the Kobalt 400 in Las Vegas, Nevada! Let's go Jamie and move on up a spot. Or 2. Possibly more in the standings. No pressure.
Follow and chat with me here: @spottergal188
March 5, 2017
Notable notes from the Folds of Honor Quik Trip 500:
Sponsor: McDonald's
Practice 1: P2
Practice 2: P12
Start: P7
Checkers: P10
Points Standings: P12
After the disappointing finish last week in Daytona this Jamie McMurray 1 team came ready to compete in Atlanta. A fast car right off of the truck to be p1 in first practice until Ryan Newman moved him down to 2nd, I would say that they were ready! Jamie ended up qualifying p7 for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, but quickly fell back on lap 2 due to getting into the 22 of Joey Logano thankfully suffering no damage from that. Jamie then settled into the 11th position for a few laps or so.
By lap 20 the McDonalds Chevy was back in the top 10 and Jamie radioed the team telling them that he was too loose, which seemed to be everyone's complaint and before we knew it segment number one was over and he ended up p16 in that one, so no bonus points there. Jamie was lucky enough to hold on to that position due to tire wear because he was close to going a lap down to current leader, Kevin Harvick. If it wasn't for Kurt Busch being behind McMurray in 17th, Jamie would've gone a lap down. After pit stops and coming in 16th, the pit crew got him out 4 spots higher in p12. Jamie radioed the team and told them, " Good job, guys". Couldn't agree more there.
Now here's where things get interesting. At lap 152 spotter Tyler Green tells Jamie that he is running good lap times. Soon after that, Jamie gets on the radio and tells the crew that he thinks he's running out of fuel or something because his gauges are not working properly, so crew chief Matt McCall tells him to check the battery switch and go to battery 2. They then determined that it was more of an alternator issue after it was not charging. So, for the remainder of the race they would be switching back and forth between both batteries and changing them out at pit stops. The pit crew did a fantastic job all day keeping McMurray in the game eventually finishing segment 2 in p11. No bonus points this race from either segment.
McMurray began the final stage in the 12th spot and after getting that battery changed he was certainly off to the races! He took those new volts and shot all the way up to the 5th spot on the outside lane. The announcers on FOX even joked about him being just like his teammate, Kyle Larson, being on that high line. Kyle then decided he wanted that 5 spot putting Jamie to 6th. By lap 208 he was down to p10. At lap 239 while running p8 a debris caution was called and the 1 car was called down to pit road to change a battery as to not have the same problem as earlier. Great call there, Matt McCall! Left pit road p12 with the help of Tyler Green telling the team where the pace car was as to not fall a lap behind.
I'm guessing that McMurray was pretty lucky to not have the problems that both the 3 car and the 31 car had with their battery issues. RCR did not fair so well. At lap 309 Austin Dillon brings out the 6th and final caution for stopping on the apron and McMurray brings the car for servicing with 15 laps to go. Going in p12 gaining 1 position to 11th. He gets to p10 due to race leader Harvick getting a pit road speeding penalty! On the final restart he got up to 9th, but then Harvick got around him for that spot to pass the finish line and take the checkers in 10th. Way to go, McMurray and team for hanging in there and getting a much needed top 10 finish and jumping 8 spots in the standings to 12th!
Next up for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is the Kobalt 400 in Las Vegas, Nevada! Let's go Jamie and move on up a spot. Or 2. Possibly more in the standings. No pressure.
Follow and chat with me here: @spottergal188
Image courtesy: jamiemcmurray.com
New Season, New Outlook
February 26th, 2017
Race: Daytona 500
Sponsor: Cessna/McDonald's
Practice 1: P24
Original starting spot: P23
Official starting: P3
Practice 2: DNP
Practice 4: DNP
Happy Hour: P27
Checkers: P28 DNF
Points: P20
Oh boy. Where do I begin? Here we are at the Daytona 500 and it's about time, right? First of all, there were a ton of changes in the Off-Season. One of which was a new entitlement sponsor for the entire Cup Series, as we welcomed new sponsor Monster Energy. Welcome aboard, Monster! As far as Jamie McMurray goes, he had a new sponsor come on board as well with Gear Wrench, and a warm welcome to you as well. Personally, I can't wait to get this season started and I know that all of you feel the same. So let's do this!
Cessna/McDonalds is back for another season with Jamie and the #1 Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates Racing. Things were starting off well for JMac and team during the first week of speedweeks in Daytona. He ran very well in the Advance Auto Parts Clash and the Can-Am Duel at Daytona 1. When the teams qualified on pole day McMurray and team did not end up with a good starting spot so they knew that they would have to improve on a P23 effort a few days earlier. They did just that and ended up finishing P2 behind Chase Elliott in the Duel #1and ended up starting in the 3rd position for the big race. He had a GREAT car for the race. Matt McCall and crew did an excellent job preparing for this race and I couldn't be happier. Job well done.
Another notable change in the Off-Season was NASCAR implementing staging during races i.e. heat races within a race. They probably got the idea from the All-Star race, right? Personally, I think this suits McMurray's style. On the other hand, you can also get lots of wrecks from "reckless" driving. Yes, I think it's still too early to tell how this is all going to play out and only time will tell.
With that being said Stage #1 treated McMurray very well. So well, in fact, that he actually led laps this race when he only led a total of 0 laps all of last season! He ended up leading 13 laps and came in 7th for the end of that segment. Already things are looking up, that is until lap 141 when all craziness broke out for the 3rd time in the race and he ended up crashing out and ultimately finishing 28th. I do know one thing for sure, this is not the same old McMurray that we are used to seeing with this new aggressive style of racing. It will take some time getting used to that for sure. Still, leading those laps early on in the race gave any McMurray fan out there a glimmer of hope for what we all hope will be a better 2017 season.
Next up is Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 2:30 PM ET on FOX.
Follow and chat with me here: @spottergal188
February 26th, 2017
Race: Daytona 500
Sponsor: Cessna/McDonald's
Practice 1: P24
Original starting spot: P23
Official starting: P3
Practice 2: DNP
Practice 4: DNP
Happy Hour: P27
Checkers: P28 DNF
Points: P20
Oh boy. Where do I begin? Here we are at the Daytona 500 and it's about time, right? First of all, there were a ton of changes in the Off-Season. One of which was a new entitlement sponsor for the entire Cup Series, as we welcomed new sponsor Monster Energy. Welcome aboard, Monster! As far as Jamie McMurray goes, he had a new sponsor come on board as well with Gear Wrench, and a warm welcome to you as well. Personally, I can't wait to get this season started and I know that all of you feel the same. So let's do this!
Cessna/McDonalds is back for another season with Jamie and the #1 Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates Racing. Things were starting off well for JMac and team during the first week of speedweeks in Daytona. He ran very well in the Advance Auto Parts Clash and the Can-Am Duel at Daytona 1. When the teams qualified on pole day McMurray and team did not end up with a good starting spot so they knew that they would have to improve on a P23 effort a few days earlier. They did just that and ended up finishing P2 behind Chase Elliott in the Duel #1and ended up starting in the 3rd position for the big race. He had a GREAT car for the race. Matt McCall and crew did an excellent job preparing for this race and I couldn't be happier. Job well done.
Another notable change in the Off-Season was NASCAR implementing staging during races i.e. heat races within a race. They probably got the idea from the All-Star race, right? Personally, I think this suits McMurray's style. On the other hand, you can also get lots of wrecks from "reckless" driving. Yes, I think it's still too early to tell how this is all going to play out and only time will tell.
With that being said Stage #1 treated McMurray very well. So well, in fact, that he actually led laps this race when he only led a total of 0 laps all of last season! He ended up leading 13 laps and came in 7th for the end of that segment. Already things are looking up, that is until lap 141 when all craziness broke out for the 3rd time in the race and he ended up crashing out and ultimately finishing 28th. I do know one thing for sure, this is not the same old McMurray that we are used to seeing with this new aggressive style of racing. It will take some time getting used to that for sure. Still, leading those laps early on in the race gave any McMurray fan out there a glimmer of hope for what we all hope will be a better 2017 season.
Next up is Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 2:30 PM ET on FOX.
Follow and chat with me here: @spottergal188
Image courtesy: jamiemcmurray.com
