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Jamie McMurray made a dramatic new start for his new team, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, after getting a little drafting support from former Roush teammate Greg Biffle. (photo: John Clark/NASCAR This Week)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Jamie McMurray’s Daytona 500 victory shouldn’t have been considered an upset. It was the Joplin, Mo.’s second consecutive victory on a track where carburetor restrictor plates are used, and it was also his second career victory at Daytona International Speedway.

It was, however, dramatic, and it marked his first start in a new ride at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.

"It’s unbelievable," said McMurray, 33. "I can’t really put it into words the way it feels. I talked to my wife this morning. She was like, you know, ‘What would it mean to you if you won this race today?’ I told her it would be like a dream come true.

"I’m trying to be genuine and as sincere as I can and not sound cliché. As a kid growing up, this is what you dream of, of being able to win the Daytona 500."

Perhaps McMurray had a sense of déjà vu. In a previous stint (2002-05) driving for owner Chip Ganassi, he finished 13th, 11th and 12th in the (now) Sprint Cup standings and won at Charlotte Motor Speedway in his second race, substituting for injured Sterling Marlin.

McMurray received crucial drafting help from Greg Biffle, formerly his teammate at Roush Fenway Racing.

"I’m so happy for him," said Biffle. "I went straight to Victory Lane when I got done with my interviews. I felt like I was a big part of getting him up there because he spun his tires like crazy (on a restart), and I got against his bumper and was against his bumper all the way through second gear, third gear and fourth gear, and I pushed him across (turns) one and two, which I hadn’t done all night.

"I was able to stay against him down the backstretch and we just took off."

"Plate racing is a lot about people helping you," said McMurray. "When you get out there, you have a decision to make when you get behind somebody of which one you want to help. I’ve been really fortunate that I’m pretty good friends with a lot of guys out there. You know, guys typically will help me when I get to plate races.

"You cannot win one of these races without help.

"It’s not just from one guy. It takes a lot of people. You’ve got to have a fast car, and everything’s got to work out for you. I’ve been obviously really fortunate the last two plate tracks."

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Jamie McMurray, Daytona Int’l Speedway, Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — As Jamie McMurray sat behind the microphone in his Daytona 500 victory press conference, hands clinched around his face, head bowed, tears rolling down his eyes, too emotional to speak — the enormity of his accomplishment set in. For him and for us.

The hundred or so journalists typing away on deadline suddenly became quiet, almost reverently watching McMurray in the several minutes it took for him to regain his composure and continue taking questions.

He was so honestly and deeply wrapped up in the moment. His moment.

It was a nice reminder of what it means to feel such genuine happiness. And for the 33-year old Missouri native McMurray, there was also a bit of relief and a healthy dose of redemption.

“To be honest, I was thinking, ‘you need to stop crying and answer the questions … but you know, the harder you try, the worse it gets,” McMurray explained Tuesday with a laugh.

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Jeff Gordon spins during the end of the Daytona 500. (Photo: Getty Images)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - If ever there were a NASCAR race where I needed a night to sleep on it, the 2010 Daytona 500 was it. I’d have been happy to be Rip Van Winkle and wake up with a foot-long beard Monday morning.

On the way back to the room, I listened to post-race talk shows, mainly to see if the fans reacted the same way I did, which is to say, did they consider this race a travesty?

I felt like my beat had been transformed magically into the WWE. Three 11th-hour restarts. Three utterly predictable wrecks. It’s great when a race ends under green flag, but my gosh, at what cost? Does it really benefit NASCAR when the alleged greatest stock car racers in the world can’t complete a lap without piling into each other?

Amazingly, many of those who called in on the Sirius XM NASCAR Channel to talk with first Alex Hayden and then Claire B. Lang seemed to enjoy it. Even though it started at nearly 1:30 p.m. and ended at nearly 7:30. Even though it had to be stopped, for a total of nearly two and a half hours, twice to repair potholes. Potholes! They’d have been better off hiking the Appalachian Trail.

I suppose Daytona International Speedway and NASCAR officials should be cut some slack because they didn’t see the track problems coming. They all blamed the weather, which, to me, seemed a bit odd. Yes, it’s been cold for Florida this February, but it wasn’t snowing two days before the race. It was raining. Daytona isn’t in the Yukon Territory.

And I was disappointed in the drivers for their weary resignation at being forced to compete under circumstances that seemed ridiculous. "This is what the fans want," one after another said, "so we’ll just go back out there time after time and wreck for their benefit."

Fox didn’t wear out the track, but it was TV that brought about this infernal, barely finite ending by absurdly guaranteeing a green-flag ending to fans watching the Budweiser Shootout when no such climax had ever been announced.

NASCAR caved on Monday by mandating not just one "green-white-checkered finish," but three, if necessary. The race went 20 extra miles. Why not just guarantee that the winner would be the last one with four wheels still mounted?

Unlike other pundits tearing into NASCAR’s flesh as if they were Tyrannosaurus Rex, I’ve been watching stock car races all my life.

And I left Daytona International Speedway appalled.

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Jamie McMurray crosses the finish line .119 seconds ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR

Daytona 500
Daytona (Beach, Fla.) International Speedway

The survivor: Jamie McMurray, a fine driver on restrictor-plate tracks, won NASCAR’s biggest race in his first at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.

Exercise in futility: The race took more six hours from green to checkered flag. Twice the race was halted because the track had to be patched in turns one and two. Three crashes marred an embarrassing first time out for NASCAR’s latest rule changes, allowing three tries at a "green-white-checkered finish."

The parade of manufacturers: Chevrolets driven by McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 1-2. Greg Biffle’s Ford was third. Clint Bowyer’s Chevrolet was fourth and David Reutimann’s Toyota was fifth. The top Dodge driver was Kurt Busch in 23rd.

Disappointments: Tony Stewart wasn’t a factor and finished 22nd. Jimmie Johnson wound up 35th. Kasey Kahne was 30th.

Notable numbers

2 - Consecutive point races on restrictor-plate tracks won by McMurray.

2 - Victories at Daytona by McMurray

12 - Top-10 finishes at Daytona by Earnhardt Jr., in 21 races.

21 - Record number of drivers who led at various times.

52 - Lead changes, the third most ever at Daytona.

Quotable quotes

"You better watch out for this Earnhardt Ganassi team this year." - Kevin "Bono" Manion, winning crew chief.

"Last lap you just don’t have any friends. If I could’ve got one car to help me, I could’ve won." - Greg Biffle (third).

"I don’t know. It was kind of a blur. … We just got in the right place at the right time." - David Reutimann.

"In hindsight, I didn’t make the best decision on the last lap." - Clint Bowyer.

"I really know what happened, but it’s frustrating to come that close and not win it. … Everybody’s a Superman out there." - Dale Earnhardt Jr. (second).

"It’s really unbelievable. I’m, like, the biggest weasel ’cause I’m sitting here crying." - Jamie McMurray.

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Jamie McMurray celebrates winning the Daytona 500 in his first race with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. McMurray led two laps, the lowest total for a Daytona 500 winner. (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Somehow Jamie McMurray’s Daytona 500 victory was dubbed an upset, and somehow most everything else about NASCAR was upset, too.

"You’ve got to be lucky and in the right line," said McMurray of the exciting finish. "Once I got the lead, it was ‘wreck, wreck, wreck.’"

He sobbed uncontrollably in victory lane, blubbering, "I just won the Daytona 500, and I don’t know what to say."

As frenetic as the ending was, it was overshadowed by the farcical nature of almost everything else. The race ended more than six hours after it started. Twice the race was halted by pothole repairs, as if this 2.5-mile track was normally used to haul pulpwood. Some of the fans went home early, and among them was the father of the winning driver.

Still, the principals dutifully acted as if keeping 150,000 fans and a national television audience occupied for almost a work day was no big deal. Pavement trouble was hardly the only problem.

"With speedway (restrictor-plate) racing, sometimes things are out of your control," said David Ragan, who wound up 16th in the jumble.

"The fans deserve probably deserve more of a show," said second-place finisher Dale Earnhardt Jr., "so that’s what they got. … I don’t think you can ever go over the top in that regard, because it’s everybody’s … .livelihood that’s at stake."

Partly in response to the ending of the Budweiser Shootout, at which time Fox’s television crew stupidly and inaccurately advised fans that a green-flag finish was guaranteed, NASCAR announced in the week leading up to the 500 that it was changing its rules in order to increase the likelihood of such a finish.

The rule worked, but at great expense. By a technicality, only two of three possible tries were needed, but there were three last-ditch, anarchic restarts, extending the already interminable race to 20 extra miles that wound up trashing 10 extra cars.

McMurray, who won the previous "restrictor-plate race" at Talladega Superspeedway on Nov. 1, 2009, was sixth after 200 laps, or the point at which the race was supposed to end. It was his first race driving Earnhardt Ganassi Racing’s No. 1 Chevrolet. The Talladega victory occurred while driving for Roush Fenway Racing, where one of his teammates was Greg Biffle.

Biffle, who finished third, was instrumental in McMurray’s victory.

"I feel good about helping Jamie (McMurray) get clear and out front," said Biffle. "I just wish maybe I would’ve waited until the backstretch to make my run on him. I had a huge run going, and I just couldn’t clear him."

The big run from the third turn on was by Earnhardt Jr. (16th at 200 laps), who roared up to McMurray’s bumper but couldn’t get alongside him.

"I think maybe two attempts, or something, at the ‘green-white-checkered’ … That kind of made it extraordinary," said Biffle. "I was thinking, ‘Why do I have to be the first candidate after the rule change to be the guy who didn’t get the win?’"

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