Tuesday's Dodge Teleconference with Jamie McMurray and Donnie Wingo

Tuesday, May 11, 2004.
Dodge Motorsports Teleconference                 
 

JAMIE McMURRAY (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge)

NOTE: McMurray has recorded top-10 finishes in four of the last five
races and moved from 19th to 12th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series
Standings. The 27-year-old Joplin, Mo., native will make career start
No. 53 on Saturday night at Richmond. He finished eighth and seventh in
the previous two short track races this season

 

OUTLOOK FOR RICHMOND "It's quite a bit faster than it was, and it seems
like it might be hard to get a hold of the track. Even though it's got a
lot of grip, on cold tires, it's hard to get a hold of. It's been known
to have two-wide racing every time we go there. It seems like the first
race after they pave the track it messes that up, but hopefully it'll
widen out, maybe the Busch cars will widen it out and we'll have some
good racing."

 

DO YOU NEED A WEEKEND OFF? "My weekend off probably wears me out. You
probably go harder than you should, but I like to continually keep
going. That's one of the reasons I want to get back in the Busch car. I
feel like I'm (more) tired on Sunday not running the Busch race because
I sat around all day on Saturday. For me, I like to go, go."

 

ARE OPPORTUNITIES OPENING UP FOR YOU OFF THE TRACK? "I'd love to get to
go do anything for MTV. Any time you get to do something outside of
racing that's that big, that's fun. It's so much different. I grew up
watching MTV and CMT. To get to be a part of those awards shows that
you've watched for so many years, that's cool. Junior was the only guy
I've ever seen on any of those. I think maybe Jimmie Johnson did the CMT
awards, so it's amazing the opportunities that come along being a
racecar driver. I know 10 years ago you never would have seen a racecar
driver on one of these shows, so it's pretty neat."

 

COMMENT ON TWO WEEKS AT CHARLOTTE "Every week after a race I sit the
whole next week and think about the racetrack. You kind of eliminate
that because you've been there (Lowe's Motor Speedway) all week. The
best part about being in the same place for two weeks is that you live
five miles from it. You don't have to travel in the plane or sleep in
your motorhome. You get to stay at home. That's a fun racetrack. It's
different. I know they talk about moving that race around, but the thing
that's cool about Charlotte is you get to put a setup in your car that's
not totally based on aero. Guys aren't running 400-pound springs in the
front and 800-pound springs in the rear. They run a more conventional
setup. That makes the racing better. That place is still rough. You get
to move around and find a groove, so that's a great place to be two
weeks in a row. You've got to keep your car balanced. It's so rough.
You've got to have everything there. For the all-star race it's not that
bad because it's such a short race. The 600 is such a long race. Five
hundred miles is a long time. Six hundred miles is just incredible. I
think one of the big things in Charlotte it's one of the first races
where it's really, really hot. Even though it was really hot in Fontana,
I didn't break a sweat during the race. I got tired, but I didn't really
break a sweat. But when you go to Charlotte, it's hot and muggy. They
put that right window in the car and the heat.... It's a long, long
race. Four hundred mile races are about the perfect length I think.
You're not junk at the end of it. Some of the 500-mile races you're not
tired. At California, I was tired after the race. When your car drives
good, those races aren't so bad. I hope my car drives good and I'm not
tired after Charlotte. I get hungry. You don't get light-headed, but
you're hungry and fatigued."

 

COMMENT ON TIRES AT RICHMOND "Tires aren't going to be a factor at all.
We ran just as fast on our 70th-lap as you could on brand new tires. I
think you're going to see people not even up on tires and just put in
fuel to gain track position. You're not going to see anybody pit and put
four tires on and drive back through the field. Tires just aren't a big
deal. The track's got a lot of grip and the tires are not wearing out,
so it's going to be interesting. It'll be similar to last year."

 

COMMENT ON TONY STEWART "He hasn't done anything to me. I've read
stories and heard the gossip, but I don't know what's going on with him
right now. He's one of the best guys there is, at least with the helmet
on. It seems like sometimes he loses his head, but he's cool with me. I
don't have an issue with him. I think sometimes you don't see the whole
story with what's going on. There might have been something in the past,
but he might just be having a bad day."

 

COMMENT ON ROCKINGHAM "I love Rockingham's racetrack. It's somewhat like
Charlotte. You run setups as soft as you can get 'em in the front with
the nose dragging and you run more of a conventional setup. It's a
wonderful racetrack. It's just too bad they can't get fans to go watch
the races there. Rockingham would be a good test track for Darlington.
You run similar setups. Shocks are about the same. You can't go test
Rockingham for Richmond or Fontana. It would be a good test track for
Darlington and maybe to go shake a car down. The only down side to
Rockingham as a test track would be tires fall off so much you'd have to
put new tires on all the time. That was one of the cool things about
Richmond. If you ran 80 laps on a set of tires and went back out and
made a change and your times picked up you knew tires were eliminated as
a factor because they didn't give up."

 

COMMENT ON KASEY KAHNE "Kasey has been doing great. I've been talking a
lot to him. We've become friends this year and he's doing a wonderful
job. I think what's helping Kasey out a lot, other than he's in
wonderful equipment, he's getting to run that Busch car on Saturday.
He's done a phenomenal job. He should be proud of himself and the team.
I'm not jealous of anyone. I hope one day I get to be him and run well
every week. There's no point being jealous because everyone gets to have
their turn being successful."

 

WHAT'S YOUR BUSCH STATUS? "I might to get to do something this weekend,
I'm not sure yet. I might have a Busch ride for this weekend, and I
might be in a Busch car for awhile after this. I've just got to wait and
see how things work out with sponsorship, but I might have something put
together for Friday night (at Richmond)."

 

 

COMMENT ON CUP SEASON AFTER FIRST 10 RACES "I feel like we've had a
top-10 car every single week. We had some trouble in a few races earlier
in the year, but we've just got to keep doing what we're doing. We
struggled at Fontana. We got home on Monday and I went to the shop and
told them I wanted to go test somewhere to try some things for the
faster tracks. Maybe we need to work on our bodies a little bit, get
some more downforce. We're going to go test and try to find something
that'll help at the faster tracks. I think everything has gone well. The
new tire is good. Even at Talladega it seemed the tire made a little
difference. That's nice when you're not depending on pit strategy to
make the car handle."

 

COMMENT ON YOUNG TALENT "It seems like team owners are more open now.
You don't have to be from a NASCAR family. I think most teams have
scouts that search around and find good, young talent. It seems like
right now if you're talented and young and have got the skills and you
can showcase that, they'll give you a chance. We see a lot of young
talent right now coming along in good equipment, so I think it's easier
to get in now than it was 10 years ago. Chevron-Texaco wanted someone
that everyone could relate to, that could go out and speak and sound
intelligent and have a conversation with everyone from a plant worker to
the main people at the corporate headquarters. The No. 1 thing is you've
got to be able to drive a racecar. You have to be able to win races and
perform well, but at the same time you've got to be able to go and speak
before a group of people. The racing side, the driving part, for me, is
the easiest part. You love it and that's what you're good at. Traveling
and speaking, I don't look forward to that part very much because it
takes away from your focus of racing."

 

HOW DID KARTING HELP YOUR CAREER? "Anytime you can be in something
racing, whether it's a go-kart or a stockcar, it doesn't matter what it
is, just racing, that's going to help you later on for sure. You get
used to practice, qualifying and racing go-karts. Then you move up to
stockcars. You need to be in something racing for sure."

 

HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU RETURNING TO TRACK WHERE YOU GOT YOUR FIRST CUP
WIN? "I was more excited last year when we went back. We ran terrible in
the 600 and The Winston last year. I love that racetrack. It's just a
fun place to get to go race. We're taking the car that I ran so well
with last year. We wrecked it at Vegas, and they're supposed to have it
ready to go by (all-star race). It seems like guys that are successful
there are successful every time they go back. I can't wait to go back."

 

WERE YOU ALWAYS INTENT ON RACING STOCK CARS? "I always wanted to do
stockcar racing. I can't imagine with how popular NASCAR is now that the
majority of the kids in go-karting don't have that. When I was racing
go-karts, open-wheel and NASCAR were kind of hand-in-hand. There wasn't
one that stuck out more than the other, but NASCAR is so huge now. I
can't imagine a kid in a go-kart not wanting to end up in NEXTEL Cup
racing. I think next year you'll see me do some different things. Chip
(Ganassi) has a sports car deal, and I want to try to do the 24 Hours of
Daytona. One day, I don't know when, I'd really like to try to do the
Indy 500 I think. It's something that's different. I don't even know
that I could do it, but Chip and I have talked about it. I'm going to
try to test one of those cars sometimes. I don't have any plans for it
right now. It might be five years, but that's something I think one day
I'd like to try. I always thought of myself as a driver. No matter what
you get in, you try to do your best. I was pretty successful in what
ever kind of car I got in."

 

 

DONNIE WINGO (Crew chief No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge)

 

OUTLOOK FOR RICHMOND "We had a so-so test. I think the track is going to
be a lot different. It's going to be a lot faster, and I also heard, I'm
not for sure, that they sealed it after we left. It looks like right now
it's just one groove, so after the Busch race maybe it'll widen out a
little bit."

 

WHAT DOES THE TEAM NEED TO WORK ON? "We struggled on the mile and a half
tracks. We struggled a little bit at Texas and for some reason this year
we struggled a little bit at Fontana. I don't know if it was the tire or
what's throwing us a curve. We're going to try to get some tests in at
Kentucky and maybe Nashville and try to improve in those areas. Some of
the other tracks like Rockingham and Darlington where it's real slick we
seem to have a good handle at those places, but we seem to struggle a
little bit at the mile and a half tracks. We ran good at Charlotte the
second race and last year toward the end of the year some of the mile
and a half tracks were better. We really weren't worried about it. We
had a good car at Atlanta this year and had an engine failure. We ended
up with a decent finish at Texas, but Fontana kind of surprised us so
we're going to have to sit down and work hard."

 

DO THE THREE GANASSI DODGE TEAMS WORK WELL TOGETHER? "That's the one
thing good about it. If one team is struggling we rely on one another to
get answers. We work close together. We all get along good and the
drivers get along good. I think that's a big plus on our side."

 

DISCUSS CHALLENGES OF RUNNING 600 MILES AT CHARLOTTE "It's pretty tough.
You have to put a lot of adjustability in the car. Charlotte is heat
sensitive, so when the sun's out to start the race the car has to be
free to start with to be good at night and the end of the day. You
really have to have a lot of adjustability in the car when the race
starts to be good at the end of the race. I don't think it's that big of
a deal for those guys (pit crew). You wouldn't make any more stops there
than you would at Rockingham or Darlington, so the one thing that helps
out is that it's at night and it's a little bit cooler. As far as making
pit stops and staying focused I don't think that's a big issue. You have
to do that at some of these tracks when they're only 400 or 500 miles."

 

DOES THE TV PACKAGE CHANGE THE CAR'S SETUP? "The new camera pods changes
the aerodynamics some, but it's the same for all cars. Going in each
week you know what you've got with that on there. Everybody has to run
it. I think it's fair for all teams."

 

 

DO YOU DO ANYTHING SPECIAL TO MAINTAIN TEAM MORALE? "We don't do
anything special. We try to have a meeting with all the guys. When you
stay together like we do for so many days a year everybody gets their
little quirks. You have to get together and let everybody vent and get
their frustrations out. Then everybody knows that they've got to do and
they can go buckle down and do their job. We've got have that meeting
once a month at least. You can kinda tell when the guys are getting
frustrated. You can sit down and talk and let everybody get it out and
then everything goes forward."

 

COMMENT ON PERFORMANCE OF THE No. 42 DODGE IN FIRST 10 RACES "We've had
a chance to win a couple of races, and I feel like we should have
already won a couple. We've been in position to do it. We had a few
problems at Darlington leaving a wheel loose and a few bad pit stops and
that really hurt us. I thought we'd be a little bit better. Fontana
threw us a little bit of a curve. We thought we'd really be good there
and we just couldn't get a handle on it. We've been that way a couple of
times this year. We've had a top-five car just about every race except
two. Where we're at with some of the problems we've had, I think we've
done OK, but I think we could have been a lot better than where we are."