WATCH: Jamie McMurray Narrowly Defeats Kyle Busch in the 2007 Pepsi 400

Published 08/25/2021, 10:10 AM EDT

Back in 2007, NASCAR enjoyed one of its closest finishes in the Cup Series. Jamie McMurray and Kyle Busch were dueling fiercely for the race win in the final stages of the race. Apparently, Busch was on the verge of clinching a double after winning in the Xfinity Series race a day earlier.

The two of them fought tooth and nail, right from the white flag, and were side-by-side for a while. Busch held the lead, but McMurray was right next to him. Eventually, they reached the chequered flag in tandem, but McMurray was millimeters ahead and snatched the win.

A classic @DAYTONA finish. pic.twitter.com/JcXtx7wySQ
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 25, 2021

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What made this even more sweet is the fact that it was McMurray’s first big race win in five years. Meanwhile, Busch was aiming to make history. After 400 miles of action-packed racing, just 0.005 seconds separated Jamie McMurray and Kyle Busch. McMurray confessed that he had a hard time believing that he had won.

Jamie McMurray was absolutely thrilled to bits

The former Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 winner was all the more happy because he had been going through a win drought. To be precise, prior to this triumph, he had not visited Victory Lane in the last 166 races. Furthermore, he and Busch managed to survive a crash-strewn race at the Daytona International Speedway.

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Meanwhile, the then 22-year-old Busch had just come off the back of a Busch Series triumph. Admittedly, that race would have taken a lot out of him. However, the then Hendrick Motorsports driver tapped into some hidden reservoir of energy and tried to fend off McMurray.

Busch said, “It was so close, I thought I had enough momentum. He beat us fair and square… I’m not crying!”

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That win was McMurray’s second career win after his 2002 Charlotte win. His other triumphs came at Talladega in 2009, Daytona, Indianapolis and Charlotte in 2010, and Talladega in 2013. Meanwhile, Busch has gone on to rack up two Cup Series titles and 17 consecutive years with at least one win.

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.