Jamie McMurray's engine woes at Dover end Chase bid

Rea White

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Jamie McMurray's engine woes at Dover end Chase bid image

Jamie McMurray's championship hopes were quickly in danger during Sunday's Citizen Soldier 400 at Dover International Speedway. On Lap 194, those ended with an engine failure.

It was the second consecutive year in which the Dover race dealt a blow to his Chase for the Sprint Cup plans. McMurray had trouble throughout the race, but the critical hit came near the race's mid-point when he began to have engine issues. Shortly after the race's 190th lap, the engine failed.

"It is what it is and that’s why we race," he said. "I’m proud of my team and proud of our guys and all the hard work they’ve put in. And it stinks that it’s over this way, but we get to race next week. So, we’ll come back and try to do it again.”

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Those engine problems were his latest problem in the race and followed conversations earlier in the race in which he felt a vibration in his car.

“No, I felt earlier in the race that I had a vibration; and I said something about it," McMurray said. "And we had some issues with drive shafts and stuff vibrating. That’s what it felt like. And then it went away, oddly enough. And then it started vibrating again; and a few laps later it finally broke.”

And all of that came after teammate Kyle Larson had his own issues earlier in the race, first having an electrical issue, then having to serve a pass-through penalty for having too many men over the wall while repairing that. Larson also brought out the caution on Lap 182.

During that caution period, the Ganassi team went under the hood on McMurray's car, trying to assess what the problem was. McMurray was 18th, one lap down.

He entered the race tied with Austin Dillon for 13th in the standings. Only 12 drivers will advance to the next round of the Chase.

Rea White