Jamie McMurray: Las Vegas Drifting Star

Roush Fenway Racing's Jamie McMurray has been under the weather since last Wednesday thanks to a nasty bout with the flu.

Throughout the Las Vegas race weekend, he made several trips to the infield care center for drugs and IV's after previous medications didn't quite work and before the race, he wondered aloud if he could stay focused and on top of his game during throughout the day.

Well, on lap 66 of the 285-lap Shelby 427, McMurray got a major wake-up call.

Driving through turns 1 and 2 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, McMurray's No. 26 Ford got clipped in the rear end by rookie Joey Logano. From there, I'll let the video do the talking:



The contact sent McMurray's rear-end heading towards the wall but thanks to some great moves, he kept the car off the wall and finished the rest of the race with a 9th-place finish.

"I didn't hold it wide open the whole time, but I just modulated the gas pedal and the steering wheel," said McMurray after the race. "I was really worried because I was a little groggy from having a cold and I didn't feel like I was as alert as what I needed to be and when that was over I thought, 'Pretty alert.'"

"Pretty alert" is definitely right.

This isn't the first time McMurray has made a nice save during Sprint Cup competition. Going back a few years to his time with Chip Ganassi Racing, McMurray kept his car from spinning after having it all-but sideways coming off of turn four at Lowe's Motor Speedway during the All-Star event at the track (I believe it was the qualifier race).

For now, though, our only video evidence is his fine piece of driving from Sunday's race at Las Vegas. And for that, I'll say I'm impressed.