McMurray Masters Road Course in Sonoma with Second-Place Finish

Media Contact: Jason Wise, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates

(704) 500-6121, jwise@ganassi.com  

 

-For Immediate Release-

 

McMurray Masters Road Course in Sonoma with Second-Place Finish

 

SONOMA, Calif., (June 27, 2004) --- In only his second road course start
at Infineon Raceway, Jamie McMurray proved to be a quick-learning
student as the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge finished in second place
today in the Dodge/Save Mart 350.

 

The second-place finish is McMurray's best finish of the season and is
his fourth top-five of 2004. McMurray jumped up two positions in the
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup standings and now sits 11th in points, only 82 points
out of the NASCAR Top 10.

 

"I hit every curve as hard as I could and jumped them," McMurray said.
"When I got behind Jeff (Gordon), it seemed like the harder you try here
the slower you go, so I thought I was going to just try to do what Jeff
was doing. I was going to try to miss the curves and just do what I
could, and I just kept getting slower. So I started back hitting the
curves and running out of control and we were faster."

 

"I'm a fan of road racing," McMurray added. "I think a lot of it is
mental and I kept a positive attitude and everything seemed to click. We
came here and tested and that helped a lot. I'm excited that we were
able to have such a strong run for everyone at Texaco/Havoline since
this track is close to their headquarters."

 

After qualifying 11th, McMurray quickly maneuvered his way through the
winding road course as the Texaco/Havoline Dodge was running in the
fifth position by lap 20.

 

During a scheduled green-flag pit stop on lap 34, McMurray headed to pit
road and was serviced with four tires and fuel. Lightning fast work by
the Texaco/Havoline crew helped McMurray leave pit road in fourth place.

 

By lap 55 the Texaco/Havoline Dodge was maintaining fourth position as
McMurray radioed that his car was a little loose. During another
scheduled green-flag pit stop on lap 68, an air pressure adjustment was
made to correct the loose condition.

 

With 30 laps remaining in the race, McMurray had advanced into the
second position as he had his sights set on race leader Jeff Gordon. 

 

As the race reached the final stages, McMurray continued to run second
and when the checkered flag fell, the Texaco/Havoline Dodge crossed the
finish line in second place.

 

Next up for the Texaco/Havoline team is the fast, high-banked
superspeedway at Daytona International Speedway for the running of the
Pepsi 400 this Saturday night.

 

-30-

 
Jason Wise
Media Relations
Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
Office: (704) 662-9642, ext. 1125
Cell: (704) 500-6121
Email: jwise@ganassi.com