Jamie McMurray and the Bass Pro Shops team entered the Bristol race weekend looking to bring home a solid run at the track where the Missouri driver has never had a DNF. In 17 previous starts at the half-mile track, McMurray has been running at the end of each event and his 18th race results would continue that streak with a fifth-place finish.
After the two practice sessions on Friday afternoon, the No.1 team felt they had a car that was capable of running with the leaders for Saturday night’s 500 lap race. McMurray aided the effort when he posted the sixth fastest time in qualifying, knowing that track position is key to top finishes at the high-banked short track.
Competitive pit stops and positive adjustments on the Bass Pro Shops/Realtree Chevy throughout the event allowed the No. 1 team to race near the front of the pack and even lead laps, resulting in a top-five finish.
An elated McMurray commented after the event, “Once we got moving forward, I had what I thought was one of the best cars on the track but when we got up to the top-four we were kind of equal to everybody. And then at the end, we were one of those cars that if we could have got out front, we probably could have won tonight but we lost some track position there and it was so hard to recover.”
EGR PR
