Team News

McMurray Shows You Can Go Home Again

By: Jay Hart, Yahoo! Sports.com

June 10, 2010

McMurray Shows You Can Go Home Again

Four years ago, Jamie McMurray left Chip Ganassi’s racing team supposedly for the greener pastures of Roush Fenway Racing – an organization that had won two championships in the previous five years. But in three seasons with Roush, McMurray’s career stalled. Yes, he won two races, but was mostly looked upon as the fifth driver on a five-driver team.

So it was no surprise at the end of last season that when Roush had to jettison one driver to meet NASCAR’s new four-team limit, McMurray was the odd man out. At the time, it looked like McMurray’s best days were behind him. As it turns out, being let go by Roush was the best thing for him.
During the offseason, McMurray reunited with Ganassi and discovered a newfound comfort he never realized at Roush. In their first race back together, McMurray handed Ganassi his first-ever Daytona 500 win.

Yahoo! Sports recently talked to McMurray about the past, the present and how winning the Daytona 500 has changed his life:

1. From an outsider’s perspective, switching teams looks like nothing more than moving from one car to another, yet your performance since going back to Earnhardt Ganassi Racing from Roush Fenway says otherwise. Can you explain how comfort with your team can translate to better performance on the track?

McMurray: People talk about it a lot more in golf than they do in racing, but the mental side of our sport is really important. It’s not just about having the 10 or 12 guys that are actually on your team support you. It’s about having an entire organization be behind you.

There’s really a sick feeling to walk into a place and see someone make a comment and you kind of know what’s going on, and those are the guys who are supposed to be supporting you.

So, I don’t know, there’s just a lot of comfort for me being at EGR. And it’s not just the guys on my team; it’s everyone throughout our whole organization who supports me and believes in me, and that goes a long way for a driver.

On top of that, our cars are better than the Roush cars were last year. We have really good cars right now. Bono (crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion) is doing a great job.

It’s not one thing; it’s a bunch of little things, but certainly the support of the organization makes a huge difference.

2. Do you regret leaving Chip Ganassi four years ago?

McMurray: No. I tell you, I learned a tremendous amount in my experience with Roush – good and bad things.

Honestly, my relationship with Chip was never anything like it is right now. Before, Chip was literally just a car owner to me, and I didn’t have any sort of personal relationship with him at all. I never would have called Chip just to ask how he’s doing or just to have general conversations. Our conversations were always strictly racing.

The first time I was there, I didn’t know Chip. I remember years ago thinking I didn’t like him. But it wasn’t that I didn’t like him. I didn’t know him at all, and I didn’t let myself get to know him.

By me leaving and by us getting back together – I think a lot of it was me maturing. I was 25 maybe the first time I went there, and I just turned 34 – but a lot has changed and I’ve grown up a lot. I have a lot of respect for Chip, and he’s become a really good friend of mine, along with Felix (Sebates).

I talk to Chip once or twice a week, and sometimes we talk about racing and sometimes we just talk. That’s important to me. I don’t know if that’s important to every driver, but to me to get to have a personal relationship with his owner, that’s big, and I really value that friendship that I have with him.

3. You seem to be at your best in what are the most difficult races to win – the Daytona 500, the Southern 500, the Coca-Cola 600. Why?

McMurray: You know what, if you were to watch us every weekend, we’ve had fast cars at almost every race. Now, Pocono we struggled for sure, and I knew that has been a tough place for me, but we were still going to end up with a 10th-place finish if we didn’t get wrecked by the 6 car.

So we’ve had that fast of cars all year long. Fortunately we’ve gotten to show it more in those races that people put more emphasis on.

4. You’ve won the last two restrictor-plate races. In your opinion, what’s the key to restrictor-plate racing?

McMurray: Being lucky. It’s about getting to the finish.

Man, I’ve been really fortunate, first off that I’ve had really fast cars. I’m not going to mention anyone’s name, but there’s a guy a few years ago that everyone thought was a great plate racer, and he changed organizations and he became a sub-average one, and it’s because his cars weren’t as fast.

You certainly have to have a really fast car, you have to be lucky, and then you have to put yourself in the right position at the end, and that’s not always of your doing. There’s been some of these races where I’ve gotten shuffled out and you know, thought, “Oh, this isn’t what I was looking for,” and it all worked out for me.

To be able to run that well over the last two plate races is pretty incredible, because those are really hard races to find the front of.

5. What do you make of Tony Stewart’s comment following Pocono that, in his opinion, the race featured some of the worst driving he’s ever seen in a professional series?

McMurray: I agree with him. Pocono, man, the double-file restarts at that place are as bad as it gets for the drivers. The problem is that everyone is fighting because those first two or three laps are when you gain all your positions at Pocono. It’s really hard to pass after the fourth or fifth lap, and so everyone is sort of driving like an idiot to get what they can in the first few.

So is their a problem with aggressive driving or is this an isolated incident?

I think everyone is guilty of driving a little over their heads there. But that’s just been Pocono. It’s nothing new. I just think Tony was more vocal about it.

In my opinion they need to pave Pocono soon. It’s rough, and with what they’ve got in Turn 3 where they made that new patch or strip of asphalt, you fight to get to that, because you can’t run the bottom anymore. So it’s made it to where when you come off the Tunnel Turn you just start crowding the guy.

You’re like, “I need part of it also.” They need to get Pocono paved so we can race on more than just one lane of it.

6. We’ve seen some ticked-off drivers have words for other drivers following a number of races this season. Do confrontations like that change anything?

McMurray: No, not at all. My opinion is, I know NASCAR said they are going to be more lenient and I think their quote was let “boys be boys,” or something to that effect. But the thing is, I don’t believe anyone inside the car consciously thinks, “Well, NASCAR is not going to punish me as much.”

I just think the racing has been a little bit closer this year; there’s been more incidents where you got together with guys. And I think that’s great that people can just show their frustration and their anger and that everyone is that passionate about it.

I think what’s a little bit different about our sport than maybe some other forms of racing is that our races are so long. When you fight, in the Coke 600 for example, for four hours and in the last 10 minutes someone ruins your day – that makes you mad. That really, ohhh, that’ll get the best of you.

7. What’s the most frivolous thing you spend money on?

McMurray: Go-karts. Christie and I don’t really spend money. We’ve got a beautiful home. We have a motorhome and an airplane. Obviously an airplane isn’t a necessity, but a motorhome is. But really, our personal lives, we’re not big spenders.

I’ve spent some money on go-karting because that’s what I like to do in my spare time. Christie would spend money on I’d say shoes. That would be her thing.

I think both of us feel like we want to save so we can live a good life forever, and that’s kind of the mode that we’re in.

8. You only get a few weekends off each season. You’ve got one coming up in July. What are you going to do?

McMurray: I’m going to a go-kart race in Wisconsin, just to race my go-kart. That’s what I do in my spare time. I really enjoy it. My dad gets to go with me and we get to do it together.

9.  How has your life changed since winning the Daytona 500?

McMurray: It hasn’t changed a lot. But when you win that race, people tell you how big that is, and even though it’s big at the moment, you don’t realize how many people watch that race or how everyone after that affiliates you as a Daytona 500 champion.

I’ll go to a luncheon or I went to a NASCAR meeting yesterday, and I walked in and they said, “There’s our 2010 Daytona 500 champion.”

Little things like that make your day. You know, it’s amazing how you’re just associated with being a 500 winner, and there’s not a lot of them. It’s a big deal, and it’s neat to be a part of that.

9 ½. The one thing I want fans to know about me is …

McMurray: That what you see is what you get. The personality that I have on TV – that is just me. There’s not an act. I feel like I’m just a really normal guy with a great job.