Jamie McMurray Transcript Dodge Teleconference

Tuesday, March 1, 2005
Dodge Motorsports Teleconference
California Recap, Mexico, Las Vegas advance

 

JAMIE McMURRAY (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge Charger)

 

NOTE: McMurray, a 28-year-old driver from Joplin, Mo., finished fourth
Sunday in the Auto Club 500 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race at California
Speedway to lead the way for the Dodge Chargers. McMurray ranks 17th in
the series standings after the first two races heading into the
UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 on March 13 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He will
also compete in Sunday's Busch race in Mexico City. 

 

COMMENT ON YOUR RUN AT CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY "We tested at California a
few days a month or so ago and really struggled. I wasn't looking
forward to going back at all. We came back with somewhat of a different
setup and in the Friday practice struggled again. The car reacted the
same way. We went back after practice on Friday and went over notes from
the last couple of seasons. After that the car was great. I feel
somewhat lucky and fortunate that we ran as well as we did."

 

OUTLOOK FOR MEXICO "I'm as excited to go to Mexico as I have been for
any race. I really enjoy going to the road courses and we've got a great
car. Chip has built a new car to go down there, and Scott Pruett tested
it last week and said it was great. I'm really looking forward to going
down there. It's my Cup team from Donnie (crew chief Wingo) to the pit
crew. I'm pretty sure all of them are going down there. They went in and
told the guys they didn't have to go, but they gave my team first
choice. I think every single one of them signed up to go. It's going to
be a lot of fun for us. It won't be as stressful as a typical race
weekend and it's going to be fun. Havoline and Chevron Texaco is
sponsoring the car. It's going to look just like my Cup car. It's going
to have a few small changes, but it's the same number and I think it's
going to be cool to see that in a Busch race."

 

COMMENT ON THE NEW SPOILER PACKAGE AT CALIFORNIA "I was the guy at the
beginning of the year that said it wasn't going to be that big of a
deal. In the race I'd never seen so many guys... a couple of guys did
lose it. You'd catch guys and you'd try to turn down underneath them and
you just couldn't. The back of the car would break loose. If I hadn't
run the Busch race on Saturday then I wouldn't be thinking the way I am,
but the Busch cars drove so much better. It was more fun to drive the
Busch cars. They just had so much more grip, and I thought it was easier
to pass with more grip. California is a racetrack where you can
typically run out against the wall and run a high side or a low side. If
you didn't run the white line you were just in the way, so we'll just
have to see how it goes, but after California I wasn't a very big fan of
the spoiler."

 

DO YOU FEEL LIKE IT'S SOMETHING YOU COULD GET USED TO? HOW DID YOU POWER
THROUGH IT? "When the race started and we were as good as we were it
made me feel so good to be with the race team I'm with. It's just like
last year. There were numerous races during practice that we didn't feel
very good about our car, but when the race started we made the right
changes to it and as the race went on we kept getting better. I guess it
shows that our team is that strong, taking a car that you don't think is
very good and running in the top five with it. It's very encouraging for
the rest of the season."

 

WHAT DO YOU THINK IT'S GOING TO BE LIKE IN MEXICO THIS WEEKEND? "I don't
really know if it's dangerous or it's not. I'm really not worried about
it. I've been told to use some common sense. I'm going to stick with the
crowd. I'm not 100 percent sure on this, but I believe NASCAR has got
some security for us while we're there. I'm just going hang out with the
group of guys I'm going with and not venture out on my own. I'm really
not all that worried about sight seeing. Obviously when we go to the
races we go to race. We don't go sight seeing when we go anywhere else,
so I don't see that being something we're going to do. It's not
something I'm really worried about."

 

WHAT DO YOU MISS THE MOST WHEN YOU'RE NOT AT THE TRACK? "That's probably
the reason I wanted to run Mexico, and I'm also going to run Nashville
in Rusty's Busch car. When the season gets started you don't want a
break that early on. You've already had a couple of months off and I
like getting into a routine. When you have a weekend off, sometimes you
need it just to rest, but as early as it is in the season right now you
want to stay in a routine and keep racing. For me, I guess it's just the
routine I miss."

 

WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER YOUR BEST TIME OFF? "Tuesday. You get Monday to
rest and then if you get Tuesday off you just kind of enjoy yourself.
When you're used to going so much it's hard sometimes just to sit down
and relax. I don't do a whole lot of that. I usually relax when I'm
sick."

 

HOW WILL YOUR SCHEDULE BE DIFFERENT THIS WEEKEND? "I'm actually flying
down with Rusty. Bombardier is giving them a big jet to take down there.
Rusty and I and some other guys are going to fly down, and Bell
Helicopter is Rusty's sponsor on his Busch car this week, so Bell
Helicopter is going to helicopter us everywhere we need to go - back and
forth from the hotel to the racetrack, so it's not a lot different from
normal. I guess the biggest difference was obviously having to go get a
passport and it's going to be a little different racing outside the
United States. I've only been outside the United States a couple of
times. I went to Moscow in 1989 to race go-karts and this time. It's
hard to explain to you guys what to expect because I don't know 100
percent what to expect."

 

COMMENT ON DODGE GRILLE "It's going to be an issue all year long. I
believe the reason they put that straight up is because it flows more
air. That's the up side. The down side is it catches a lot of debris. We
struggled with it a little bit in the Busch race on Saturday, but
California is the worst racetrack for debris. I don't know why. I don't
know if it's because it's so windy out there or what, but I remember
last year they threw a caution and sent people out to pick up all the
wrappers that were on the racetrack. I think California may be the
worst. It didn't matter last year if you had a Dodge, Chevy or a Ford
because they were all getting clogged up. I think the Dodge teams are
really going to have to look at their tape configurations. We ran a
completely different tape configuration in the race from what we tested
because we were really worried about that. Another thing is you can see
the paper on the track. Sometimes you can avoid it and sometimes you
can't. A lot of times you pick it up under caution. You can't avoid it.
You've got to be careful about that."

 

COMMENT ON YOUR PIT CREW "I honestly feel like right now I have one of
the three or four best pit crews in Nextel Cup. I was shocked, just
excited at how good the pit crew was on Sunday. We gained spots
literally every single time. They have done an incredible job. Last year
I would dread when the cautions came out. On Sunday at California I was
excited because I knew they were going to gain me a couple of spots.
We've really picked up in that area."

 

COMMENT ON UPCOMING LAS VEGAS RACE "We didn't have a very good test
there, either. Fontana and Vegas testing went terrible for us, but I
think we learned some stuff at California that we can apply at Vegas.
It's a great racetrack. It's the best racetrack as far as the town we
get to go to on our schedule. I'm really looking forward to getting to
Vegas. I think I ran fourth last year. We thought we had something that
could win last year at Vegas, but I hit the wall with something like 100
laps to go and the car didn't drive as well after that, but we still
finished in the top five. Usually when guys run well at California they
run well at Vegas."

 

COMMENT ON HANDLING OF THE ROUSH CARS "Greg Biffle had the fastest car
at California and he won Michigan, so they always seem to run well at
those racetracks. It seems to me like they're working together as a team
more. All their cars were fast on Sunday. The Roush cars, the Yates
cars, the Hendrick cars, their engines are incredible. Those guys have
so much power, I don't know if they have to work on their cars as hard
as everyone else does."

 

COMMENT ON UPCOMING RACE AT DARLINGTON "Darlington is one of my favorite
racetracks. I've run really well there in the Busch car and we've run
great in a Cup car there, too. We're probably not going to be racing
there in a few years, so it's a racetrack that I think everyone has
wanted to win at for years. I'd certainly like to put my name on that
(trophy) before we stop going there."

 

DO YOU THINK DARLINGTON WILL GO AWAY? "I think Darlington and Rockingham
are two of my favorite racetracks and they put on two of the best shows
we have. As far as racing goes, both of those racetracks are great. Let
me say this because I don't know. I hope we always go to Darlington
because it's one of my favorite tracks and it's a great place to race.
They've already taken a race away from it. Maybe I shouldn't have said
anything there because I truly don't know, but I'll just say I hope we
always go there."