McMurray wins the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway

Jamie McMurray held off Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson in the final 21 laps to win the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

After winning the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400, McMurray added another big race win to his belt this season. McMurray started in 27th position and took home his third big win of the season at Charlotte.  

“Yes, it has been an unbelievable year. I certainly can’t thank Chip (Ganassi) and everybody enough. We’ve had a really good season and we’ve been blessed to have some really good runs in some bigger races. Really, really excited about our success this season.” McMurray said.  

Busch and Johnson battled for second place in the final 10-laps of the race. Both drivers raced hard, but clean. Busch held off Johnson for second place.   Busch led a race-high 218 laps and was not happy about finishing second.  

“Nobody can put it perspective for me, it’s very, very disappointing.” Busch said.   Points leader Jimmie Johnson had an up and down day. On lap 33, Johnson got loose and spun out. He kept it out of the wall and was able to get to pit road without any damage. Johnson battles back from 37^th to finish third.  

“We had a really loose race car and I was trying to run the middle lane down in one and two and lost it. Then I had to drive backwards and out the side window and everything to keep it off the inside wall and luckily I did that. We stayed on the lead lap and just went to work from there. The track slowly started coming our direction and that is when we got fast and was able to drive up to the front.” Johnson said.  

Pole sitter Jeff Gordon started having alternator trouble on lap 190. Gordon loses power and loses a lap while switching over to the backup battery. Gordon received the lucky dog after a spin by Marcos Ambrose. The crew changed both batteries during the stop but the alternator still was not working. Gordon later was too fast entering pit-road and went down a lap again. Gordon finished 23^rd and now sits 156 points out in the series standings.  

“We had about everything go wrong that could go wrong. Track position being crucial at this place. I’ve never seen it so sensitive. We lost a little bit of track position and then we had the battery issue which took me a little while to figure out.” Gordon said.   Pre-race winner pick, Kurt Busch battled a loose car early. Busch got loose and spun on lap 24. Busch finished in 30^th place, 237 points out in the series standings.  

“Just a really confusing night for this Miller Lite Dodge Charger.  It’s really tough to explain.” Busch said. “We fought loose on exit early in the race and it cost us when I just nicked the wall off of (turn) 4. After that, we were all over the place. Loose, tight, loose again.”  

Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer got together on lap 246 coming out of turn two. Burton came down on Bowyer and Burton slide sideways down to the apron of the track. A lot of smoke, but no major contact was made and bother drivers were able to continue on.  

Kasey Kahne got loose on lap 123 and hits the wall, also collecting Sam Hornish Jr. Both sustained heavy damage and went to the garage. JJ Yeley later returned to the speedway driving the No 9.   Johnson now holds a 41 point lead in the series standings over Hamlin with five races remaining.    

Unofficial Race Results

Bank of America 500, Charlotte Motor Speedway

October 16, 2010 – Race 31 of 36