While then-leader #21-Kevin Harvick battled the lapped car of Richard Childress Racing teammate #55-Robby Gordon in Saturday’s Goody’s 200 at North Carolina Speedway, #30-Jamie McMurray swept below both exiting Turn 4 on Lap 177 of 197 to take the lead. McMurray then held off a fast-charging #8-Martin Truex Jr. by .411 seconds for his fourth consecutive series win at the track, tying the record held by veteran Mark Martin. “It looked like Robby was trying to get his lap back and he just shoved Kevin out of the way. I just stayed down on the bottom and made an easy pass,” McMurray said. “Once you get out to the lead, it becomes a little bit harder because you don’t have anyone to chase and it’s a little harder to do for me. When you get out front, this place is so easy to over-drive” McMurray’s win came with his third different team. His first came with #27-Brewco Motorsports; followed by two with #1-Phoenix Racing; and Saturday with Braun Racing, handing that team its first series win. “I remember watching Mark win here before I was even racing stock cars,” he said. “I’m not big on milestones, but I’ll take it.” Harvick finished third, #99-Michael Waltrip fourth and #37-David Green completed the top-five. Harvick, who is not running the whole season, took over the points lead. “That was a lap-down car sliding into a leader. You’ll have to ask the guy holding the steering wheel,” Harvick said of his incident with Gordon. “I haven’t talked to him; it’s a waste of air.” The race was slowed four times by caution for 27 laps. There were 10 lead changes among seven different drivers. Truex Jr. led the most laps (68).(ThatsRacin.com)
See results at ThatsRacin.com, BGNRacing.com, MotorsportsOne, or NASCAR.com.(2-21-2004)
