The life of a NASCAR substitute driver is anything but easy, as young Alex Bowman and the retired Jeff Gordon are finding out as fill-ins for Dale Earnhardt Jr.
They have the sympathy of Jamie McMurray, who is competing full-time in this season's Chase but who had a memorable stint as a substitute when he was breaking into the sport 14 years ago.
"I was as nervous as you can get," McMurray said of the time he drove in relief for an injured Sterling Marlin for six races in 2002.
McMurray made the most of his situation, winning the fall race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in one of the most shocking results in NASCAR history.
He was driving for Marlin, who had broken his neck two weeks earlier in a wreck at Kansas Speedway. McMurray, then 26 and a driver in the Busch Series, had just signed to drive a Cup car for Chip Ganassi Racing beginning in the 2003 season.
The injury to Marlin, one of the sport's stars from that era who had already won twice in 2002, moved up McMurray's timetable.
After finishing 26th at Talladega in his first race, McMurray pulled his surprise victory the following week at Charlotte, where this season's Bank of America 500 is scheduled for Oct. 8.
"(My Busch car) wasn't necessarily a winning car, and then all of a sudden I got in Sterling's car," McMurray said. "So, there is a lot of pressure on you to run well because you know that you are in a car that is capable of winning. Once we won in Charlotte, it was like super relieving because not only is that a confidence builder for you, but I think in all the people that are around you."
Gordon will drive for Earnhardt _ who is out for the season with a concussion _ this weekend at Dover. It will be his seventh time in the No. 88 Chevy. He has no top-10s, with an 11th at Bristol in August his best finish.
Bowman will sub for Earnhardt again at Charlotte, his fifth start for him this season. Bowman, who had limited Cup experience before this season, was working in the simulation department at Hendrick Motorsports when he was called on to help out in Earnhardt's car.
"Everyone wants the chance to get in a really good car and Alex has done, I think, a phenomenal job at jumping right in and having a lot of speed and racing well," McMurray said. "The flip side of that is if you get in that car and you don't run well, then you lose your opportunity at maybe ever getting that shot again. I think Alex, even though he hasn't pulled off a win, has had really good speed and what sticks out the most is he is not even really in a car every week.
"I know that probably for him the phone is not ringing as much as he wants it to, but he is going to get an opportunity because to me he has really shown that he is capable of it."
