McMurray Scores Top-Five Honors at The Rock

ROCKINGHAM, N.C., (February 23, 2003) --- Jamie McMurray and North Carolina
Speedway have a love affair with one another. McMurray continued his
successful runs at "The Rock" today as he scored fifth-place honors in the
Subway 400 NASCAR Winston Cup Series race. 

McMurray's fifth-place finish is his third top-10 in just eight NASCAR
Winston Cup Series races. In his last three NASCAR starts at North Carolina
Speedway, McMurray has one victory (Busch Series), two top-five and two
top-10 finishes. McMurray finished 15th in his first Winston Cup start at
the speedway last fall. 

After starting seventh, McMurray used patience and skill for 393 laps to
score the top-five finish. "Man, I'm excited for all these guys," McMurray
said. "Donnie (Wingo, his crew chief) did a really good job today making
calls. He did a couple of things that I had never really done before and I
didn't know, so we tried it and it worked really well. They adjusted on the
car all day and I felt like the racetrack changed and I felt like we kept up
with it."

"The last 30 laps were pretty much half-throttle since I was trying to save
fuel because we didn't figure we could make it," McMurray added. "We were
kind of gambling on that. We ran up front all day so I'm happy. I'm proud of
everyone on the Havoline team. This is a brand new team and Donnie and the
guys did a great job in the pits all day."

In the early stages of the race, McMurray radioed the crew his No. 42
machine was a little loose coming off the corners. During a caution
period on lap 45, McMurray made his way down pit road as the team
serviced the car and made air pressure adjustments.

During the middle stages of the event, McMurray maintained a top-10 running
position as the crew continued to make chassis adjustments to correct the
loose in, tight off condition. By lap 207 McMurray was running in the
seventh position.

As the race progressed, McMurray was clicking off lap times that were
quicker than the leaders as the No. 42 Dodge continued its march to
the front. McMurray maintained the seventh-place position by lap 320.

As the race reached the closing stages, McMurray continued his assault on
the field as he began to advance positions with each completed lap and
radioed the crew "the car is great."

With 10 laps remaining, McMurray was running sixth, and when the checkered
flag waved, McMurray's No. 42 Havoline Dodge crossed the finish line in
fifth-place.

"To take a new team to Rockingham and finish fifth is having a good day,"
added crew chief Donnie Wingo. "We stayed in the top-10 most of the day, so
everything went really good."

McMurray and the team now set their sites on the Las Vegas Motor
Speedway next weekend for the running of the UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400.