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Jamie McMurray continued his spectacular season on the racetrack with a victory in the Nationwide race at Atlanta Motor Speedway Saturday night -- his first in the series in six years. McMurray jumped into the lead on the final restart and stretched his advantage to about one second before giving up most of that at the end, taking the checkered flag about five car lengths ahead of Kyle Busch.
The official margin of victory was .286 of a second.
It was McMurray's eighth victory in the series, but his first since 2004. And it denied Busch his 11th win of the season, which will be a record if he achieves it.
Carl Edwards was third, followed by Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth.
McMurray, driving for Dale Earnhardt Jr's JR Motorsports, led 48 laps on his way to a win in a stellar season that also includes victories in the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
"It was a really good day and Dale Jr. gave me a great opportunity to drive this car," McMurray told ESPN in victory lane. "Man, it's cool to win one of these races. It feels really good going into the (Sprint Cup) race tomorrow."
Of Busch's final charge at the end, McMurray said, "I was driving hard, but the harder I drove, I wasn't going quicker, so I just drove 95 percent. I had the best car tonight.."
Said Busch, "They gave me a good enough car to try to win, but I came up short. It just got too tight."
"I felt like at the beginning of the race I had the best car and it felt like we had a second- or third-place car in the middle," McMurray said. "At the end, it just had tons of speed and certainly getting out in front on that last restart was critical. I really thought when we came to the green there, whoever got in front it was going to be hard to pass that guy. Fortunately we got a jump there and got ahead of Kyle."Busch dropped from first to third as McMurray got a great jump on the final restart after the last yellow flag, which flew on lap 167 of the 195-lap race.
"He definitely wanted to get in front on the restart," said McMurray's crew chief, Tony Eury Sr. "He got out in the middle and got in front. That's the kind of move you have to make to win the race."
Points leader Brad Keselowski finished 12th, but he still has a healthy 332-point lead in the Nationwide championship over Edwards.
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