Catchfence

WIX Filters

Jamie McMurray flashed by Kyle Busch with 21 laps to go and drove away to his third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory of the 2010 season Saturday night at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

Cars equipped with WIX Filters, a member of the Affinia Group family of brands, have won 21 times in 31 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (including the Daytona 500, and Brickyard 400) plus finished one-two at Charlotte and claimed three of top-four positions.

Busch had dominated the event, leading a race-high 217 of 334 laps, but McMurray was closing in on Busch’s rear bumper when the ninth and final caution waved on lap 310.  When the race went green on lap 313, McMurray made his race-winning pass around Busch off Turn 2 and never looked back, crossing the finish line 1.866 seconds ahead of his rival.

“It was just our night,” McMurray said.  “Our car was unbelievable those last like 25 or 30 laps.  It was effortless to drive and had a lot of speed in it.  It was just a really good night for us.

I knew catching Kyle and passing Kyle would be two different things.  We were very equal in Turns 1 and 2 but I was quite a bit quicker than he was in three and four and I knew that if I was going to pass him and I was going to have to clear him in three and four.  I don’t know how fast I was catching him but I felt like I was catching him fairly fast and there were 30 laps left.  And when your car starts going away as quick as his was going away, yes, I felt like I was going to be able to pass him.  Honestly I was disappointed when the caution came out because I thought that was going to take my chance of winning away from me.”

After finishing a close second to Kurt Busch in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte this past May, McMurray said that anything short of victory Saturday night would have been bitter.

“After coming so close in the 600 earlier in the season I really felt like anything less than a winning this weekend would have been disappointing,” McMurray said.  “We had such a great car in the spring and it just wasn’t good enough on the short run and tonight it was very similar to that and as I was catching Kyle towards the end of the race I’m thinking in my head as long as the caution doesn’t come out we’re going to be able to win this thing ‘cause I was catching him pretty fast.  And then when the caution came out I really wasn’t sure if I was going to have enough speed to outrun him in 25 or 30 laps.

The victory was McMurray’s second in 289 races and his second in 17 starts at Charlotte.  The Joplin, Missouri native scored his first career win at Charlotte in 2002 in just his second start driving for an injured Sterling Marlin.

McMurray said the victory Saturday night was completely different than his first win at Charlotte eight years ago.

“I don’t there is any race car driver that wants someone else to get in their car and win,” McMurray said.  “So I knew that that was hard on Sterling.  As soon as I get in victory lane I remember telling myself you need to be very gracious and be respectful to Sterling because this is hard for him.  And you win with another team, it’s not really your team.  I feel this is my team and it’s a team that’s been put together over the past 11 or 12 months and it’s mine and it’s a completely different feeling.”

McMurray climbed one position in the series championship standings, moving up to 13^th-place, 75 points ahead of 14^th-place Ryan Newman.  He averaged 140.391 mph in a race that took three hours, 34 minutes and seven seconds to complete.  There were 27 lead changes among 19 drivers and the event was slowed by nine cautions for 39 laps.

Since 1939, WIX® Filters, a member of the Affinia Group family of brands, has been an innovator in filtration products. WIX designs, manufactures and distributes products for automotive, diesel, agricultural, industrial and specialty filter markets. Its product line includes oil, air, cabin interior, fuel, coolant, transmission and hydraulic filters for automobiles, trucks and off-road equipment. WIX, a member of the Affinia family of brands, is the number one filter in NASCAR and an exclusive NASCAR Performance Product. Its NASCAR relationship also includes the WIX Filters Lap Leader Award, which recognizes the drivers leading the most laps in each race. For more information, visit www.wixfilters.com.

Affinia Group Inc. is an innovative global leader in the design, manufacture, distribution and marketing of industrial grade products and services, including extensive offerings of aftermarket parts for automotive and heavy-duty vehicles. With more than $2 billion in annual revenue, Affinia has operations in North and South America, Europe, Asia and India. For more information, visit www.affiniagroup.com.

*Affinia Group Inc.’s affiliated companies include Brake Parts Inc. WIX Filtration Corp LLC, Affinia Products  Corp LLC and other high quality manufacturers of the Affinia family of brands.

- Camp & Associates, Inc., for WIX Filters, Press Release