ATLANTA -- After a more-than-difficult weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway a week ago, Jamie McMurray heads to Texas with everything in perspective.

"That's what Bristol does," McMurray said. "It's a cool place to race, but it can wear you out."

Early in last Sunday's Food City 500 -- two days after getting his primary car impounded for an x-measurement violation -- McMurray had an incident with fellow Dodge driver Kasey Kahne.

Kahne was running second to Rusty Wallace when McMurray dove to Kahne's inside entering Turns 1 and 2.

The two got together, wrecking Kahne hard into the outside wall and demolishing the rear end of the No. 9 Dodge.

Kahne vowed revenge Sunday, but backed off the statement later in the week. McMurray said he understands Kahne's frustration.

"It's over now," McMurray said. "I knew he was upset, so I went up and apologized to him and told him I'd be careful from here on out."

"That's what you do," McMurray said of Kahne's pointed comments Sunday. "That's part of human nature. You want to retailiate on somebody as soon as you can."

Later Sunday, it was Matt Kenseth who put a cramp in McMurray's day.

En route to an eighth-place finish in the Food City 500, McMurray traded paint with Kenseth several times, both drivers openly making their disdain for one another known.

The duo had been engaged in a heated battle for several laps, and both admittedly used bump-and-run maneuvers to make passes.

The feud escalated to the point that Kenseth wound up spun out at the entrance to pit road and both drivers were called to the NASCAR trailer for a scolding.

"I knew better," McMurray said. "When you spend all day racing at that place and someone takes it away from you in the last 100 feet or 200 feet, you just want to get them back.

"I never get mad, but I was mad."

After a while, however, McMurray knew he made the wrong decision.

"Everybody knows (Kenseth) wouldn't wreck you on purpose," McMurray said. "He was just tied up like I was."

McMurray was fined $10,000 and placed on probation until Aug. 31 for spinning Kenseth after the checkers.

"They told me they were going to give me the same fine they gave everybody else, and that's fine. I knew I had it coming."

Heading to Texas this weekend, McMurray is 14th in the Nextel Cup driver standings, with three top-10 finishes in six events.

He says he expects to be in the Chase for the Championship at season's end.

"I feel very confident that we're going to make the 400 points or either the top 10," he said. "We've run in the top five and had a shot to win every race this year.

"We've done well and we look forward to getting in the top 10."

NASCAR.com

redriderbob

 

Violence is never the answer

 

I don't recall Darth Vader ever saying that! lol!

redriderbob

 

Good one Bob.

 

This beats the heck out of "professional" wrestling....[sm=smiley36.gif]

 

I wonder if Kenseth wants to put Bristol behind him ??

 

He should, if he wants to win soon...[&:]