McMurray edges out Busch at Daytona

McMurray proved once again how unpredictable races can be at the 2.5-mile oval. The Roush Fenway driver overcame a pit road penalty and was able to put himself in contention for victory in time for the last restart of the race.

He led only three laps during the night, all of them within the last five while battling with Kyle Busch and thanks in part to some help he got from behind from his Roush Fenway teammate Carl Edwards.

"It's so exciting to be here," McMurray said after claiming his first victory since 2002 when he won in only his second ever start in the Nextel Cup series at Charlotte. "I always said for five years, however long, there would never be another victory like Charlotte and you wait so long to win.

"Every driver out here can tell you how special it is. I started crying, and I'm like, 'Why are you crying?' Because I was so happy. Celebrating."

Kyle Busch came close to make history by winning in the Busch Series and the Nextel Cup on the same day at Daytona but was just five inches short in the end. The Hendrick driver certainly had the car to win but said he probably was not patient enough through the final metres of the race.

"It was a great battle there with Jamie and I guess the other Hendrick cars," Busch said. "We wish we could've won the last restrictor-plate race with the regular car but we were just trying to battle there through the finish line and I think I got a little bit too anxious with my side-draft out of turn four."

Busch was out of the top five when the green flag waved for the last time but quickly moved up, being pushed from behind by Greg Biffle, until he started the fight for the lead with McMurray with five laps to go.

At no point however did he get any help from his Hendrick teammates, as he was quick to point out.

"There were a few opportunities for them to get behind me and help me," Busch added. "Jeff I think was clear and could've came down and help us and get three Hendrick cars in a row, me, him and the 48 (Johnson) but chose not to do so and chose to stay up high and help another Roush car."

Carl Edwards and Jeff Gordon completed the top five ahead of Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer, who was the driver who led the most laps. He was racing for the first time with the engines coming from the unified engine program of Richard Childress Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc.

However, he had some ignition problems on lap 77 while leading and was not a factor anymore after that.

The race provided its usual share of crashes, the biggest one taking place as early as lap 14, when Tony Stewart tapped the rear of the No. 11 car of his teammate Denny Hamlin, sending both into the wall out of turn four, and ruining any chances of victory when they were running second and third.

"All of a sudden he just stops on the exit of (Turn) 4 in front of 42 cars, and I guess he expects all of us to drive around him," Stewart said. "I don't know. It's tore up two really good racecars. He's a young guy, and he wants to be successful, but I don't know if he knows the definition of 'team' right now."

Hamlin was not as controversial as his teammate on his view of what had happened.

"I definitely felt a tap from behind," he said. "The cars were starting to lose their handle there, and, I don't know, (I was) just trying to hang on. It's just one of those things. It's superspeedway racing."

Also involved in the incident were Dale Earnhardt Jr, Reed Sorenson and Bobby Labonte, while most cars ran through the grass and the pit road to avoid the wreck.

Juan Pablo Montoya was involved in the other big crash of the night with 28 laps remaining. He made heavy contact with Bobby Labonte out of turn 2, after the former Nextel Cup champion suddenly lifted to avoid crashing into the back of David Reutimann, who had just clipped the outside wall going out of turn two.

Dale Earnhardt Jr, who was running 38th at the stage after being involved in the Gibbs' cars crash, also made contact with the wall in the incident, as well as John Andretti who was standing in for Kyle Petty.

Kevin Harvick, who won the Daytona 500 earlier this year, had a disappointing day after hitting the wall on lap 56, having made contact with Montoya while battling for position. He finished 34th, 13 laps down on the leader as he had to pit several times to fix the damage from the incident.

Jeff Gordon now has an increased lead in the points, taking it almost to where it was before being docked 100 points for his Sonoma penalty. He is 277 points ahead of Hamlin, who holds on to second place despite finishing last. The rest of the top-five remain unchanged.

Pos   Driver              Car         Laps
 1.   Jamie McMurray      Ford         160
 2.   Kyle Busch          Chevrolet    160
 3.   Kurt Busch          Dodge        160
 4.   Carl Edwards        Ford         160
 5.   Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet    160
 6.   Greg Biffle         Ford         160
 7.   Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet    160
 8.   Matt Kenseth        Ford         160
 9.   Kasey Kahne         Dodge        160
10.   Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet    160
11.   David Gilliland     Ford         160
12.   David Ragan         Ford         160
13.   Martin Truex Jr     Chevrolet    160
14.   Ryan Newman         Dodge        160
15.   Robby Gordon        Ford         160
16.   Jeff Burton         Chevrolet    160
17.   Mark Martin         Chevrolet    160
18.   Johnny Sauter       Chevrolet    160
19.   Casey Mears         Chevrolet    160
20.   J.J. Yeley          Chevrolet    160
21.   Paul Menard         Chevrolet    160
22.   David Stremme       Dodge        160
23.   Dave Blaney         Toyota       160
24.   Bill Elliott        Ford         160
25.   Kenny Wallace       Chevrolet    160
26.   David Reutimann     Toyota       160
27.   Dale Jarrett        Toyota       160
28.   John Andretti       Dodge        160
29.   Joe Nemechek        Chevrolet    160
30.   Brian Vickers       Toyota       160
31.   Ricky Rudd          Ford         158
32.   Juan Montoya        Dodge        157
33.   Elliott Sadler      Dodge        153
34.   Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet    147
35.   Bobby Labonte       Dodge        137
36.   Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet    134
37.   Jeff Green          Chevrolet    131
38.   Tony Stewart        Chevrolet    125
39.   Tony Raines         Chevrolet    120
40.   Sterling Marlin     Chevrolet    114
41.   Scott Riggs         Dodge        105
42.   Reed Sorenson       Dodge        103
43.   Denny Hamlin        Chevrolet     99