The wrong guy was right again

            INDIANAPOLIS – The Man Who Would Be King didn’t win the Brickyard 400. It was his teammate, who probably should have been the one considered the king at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing all along.

            Jamie McMurray, once of Joplin, Mo., didn’t start on the pole, as Juan Pablo Montoya, once of Bogota, Colombia, did. He didn’t lead 86 laps. Montoya did.

            McMurray, though, led the final 11 laps (and a total of 16).. In the Daytona 500, he led only the final two. McMurray won both races. Montoya hasn’t won in more than three years.

            “We didn’t have the best car,” said McMurray. “When Kevin (Harvick) got by me a few laps (15) from the end, I thought it was over.”

            Charles Dickens could’ve written the story of Chip Ganassi’s team because the beginning of A Tale of Two Cities was the ending of the Brickyard 400: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

            In one sense, the worst led to the best. Montoya, who had dominated, lost track position when he pitted for tires while others were changing two. As a result, Montoya took the green flag in seventh place instead of first on lap 143. Two laps later, McMurray lost the lead to Harvick. Two laps after that, Montoya, who had lost ground instead of gaining it, lost control exiting turn four, bounced off the wall and barred the path of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Chevy, which crashed into him.

            That caution flag led to McMurray’s victory because it gave him a chance to regain the lead from Harvick on the final restart.

            Meanwhile, as McMurray was basking in the glory of winning two iconic races – the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 – in the same year, Montoya was fleeing the track and declining comment. His frustration was understandable. Over the past two years, he has led 202 of a possible 320 laps and left this city with an average finish of 21.5.

            Within the framework of the season as a whole, McMurray’s success in the two monster races remains a bit of an anomaly. His season earnings, $4,687,502, are the best in the Sprint Cup Series, but his points, 2,295, rank him 16^th. He has two victories and three poles but only seven top-10 finishes in 20 races.

            “I’m running the last 10 laps of this race and just praying every lap there isn’t going to be a caution (period) and that my car was going to have to grip it needed,” said McMurray. “It’s remarkable to be put in this position, and honestly, I’m in shock right now.

            “Man, when it’s your day, it’s your day.”

            The 17^th Brickyard 400, attended by 130,000 fewer fans than three years earlier, began with a 10-car pile-up on the second turn of the first lap. Then, for some reason, the race had barely resumed when one driver after another began reporting overheating problems, which eventually subsided as quickly as they arose.

            From lap 15 to lap 140, the chief talking points involved empty seats and debris cautions, but the surprises arose again as the checkered flag beckoned.

            Ganassi, whose NASCAR effort is a partnership with Teresa Earnhardt and Felix Sabates, also won the Indianapolis 500 with Dario Franchitti in one of his entries. Somehow the unprecedented achievement of winning Indy 500, Brickyard 400 and Daytona 500 in the same year morphed into what broadcasters immediately deemed a Triple Crown, even though no such proper noun existed before the weekend began.

            “I’m a big believer in fate,” said McMurray, “and this was just meant to be.”

You may contact Monte Dutton at mdutton@gastongazette.com.