Gastonia, NC — July 25, 2010
Jamie McMurray passed Kevin Harvick with 11 laps to go to win the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis (Ind.) Motor Speedway.

Cars equipped with WIX Filters, a member of the Affinia Group family of brands, swept the top two positions and four of the top-five positions. Team WIX has now racked up 13 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins in 2010 (including the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 plus the Budweiser Shootout and Gatorade Duel special event races).

McMurray’s victory continues his magical season. The 34-year old Joplin, Missouri native has now captured two of the NASCAR’s biggest events after winning the Daytona 500 back in February.

The driver of the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet said he and team had a really smart race and complimented crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion’s decision to take two tires on his final pit stop.

“It was a really big risk for us because I really thought I had a flat left front,” McMurray said. “And I’m glad we were pitted towards the end of pit road because it gave us a little time to kind of work it out. He made a really good decision to stick with two tires. And when I got out front I honestly didn’t think anybody would catch me. The 29 hadn’t been as good as us all day and I thought that I’d be able to drive away from him but my car got really tight. Then Kevin got up underneath me and I kind of let him go because I was going to crossover going into one and as soon as I let off the gas the caution came out.”

McMurray admitted to being frustrated and was determined to make up the lost distance on the following restart with 11 laps to go. The race restarted on lap 150 and McMurray passed Harvick for the lead in Turn 2 and never looked back. He steadily drove away from his rival over the final 11 laps and crossed the finish line 1.391 seconds ahead of Harvick.

“When Kevin gave me the outside, I thought that was my only chance,” McMurray said. “on the restart we both spun the tires really, really bad but when I got down to Turn 1 my car just had a lot more grip than it did the run before. I don’t know if the air pressure had built up a little bit. I worked my tires in really, really hard under the yellow to get the pressure built up. I just had way more grip that last run than I did the run before that.”

Chip Ganassi, McMurray’s car owner, made history Sunday afternoon by becoming the first owner to sweep the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400 and Indy 500 in the same season. The accomplishment is something that McMurray says most likely won’t happen again.

“It’s just so hard to get both organizations good at the same time,” McMurray said. “This race, the Daytona 500 and the Indy 500 are races of strategy and you see guys dominate those races and not win. It’s just remarkable what he’s been able to put together and the people he’s been able to hire. I feel very honored to get to be a part of that accomplishment.”

Juan Pablo Montoya, McMurray’s teammate, dominated the race, leading four times for a race-high 86 laps and capturing WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race honors. Montoya appeared to have the event well in hand until a caution for debris waved on lap 139. While Montoya chose to change four tires, McMurray, Harvick and others opted for two, shuffling Montoya back in traffic for the restart. Five laps later, on lap 147, Montoya slammed the wall in Turn 4, ending his day.

“I would guess that they’re not shocked by what’s happened today because it just seems like they’ve had a lot of bad luck,” McMurray said. “I don’t know what happened to him. Honestly I didn’t even know that he was even involved in a wreck until under that caution I saw him walking out of his car and I didn’t want to ask what had happened because I was more concerned with what I was doing at the time. That’s hard on anybody to lead that many laps and this is a special place to Juan from winning the Indy 500 and being the guy that can be the only guy that’s won both those races. That’s really tough.”

The victory was McMurray’s fifth in 278 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races and his second of the 2010 season. He won for the first time in eight races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. McMurray is 16th in the series championship standings, 151 points behind 12th-place Carl Edwards and a spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

McMurray averaged 136.054 mph in a race that took 2 hours, 56 minutes and 24 seconds to complete. The race was slowed by six cautions for 25 laps and featured 14 lead changes among 10 drivers.

Since 1939, WIX® Filters, a member of the Affinia Group family of brands, has been an innovator in filtration products. WIX designs, manufactures and distributes products for automotive, diesel, agricultural, industrial and specialty filter markets. Its product line includes oil, air, cabin interior, fuel, coolant, transmission and hydraulic filters for automobiles, trucks and off-road equipment. WIX, a member of the Affinia family of brands, is the number one filter in NASCAR and an exclusive NASCAR Performance Product. Its NASCAR relationship also includes the WIX Filters Lap Leader Award, which recognizes the drivers leading the most laps in each race. For more information, visit http://www.wixfilters.com/.

Affinia Group Inc. is an innovative global leader in the design, manufacture, distribution and marketing of industrial grade products and services, including extensive offerings of aftermarket parts for automotive and heavy-duty vehicles. With more than $2 billion in annual revenue, Affinia has operations in North and South America, Europe, Asia and India. For more information, visit http://www.affiniagroup.com/.

*Affinia Group Inc.’s affiliated companies include Brake Parts Inc. WIX Filtration Corp LLC, Affinia Products Corp LLC and other high quality manufacturers of the Affinia family of brands.

Camp & Associates. Inc