McMurray Secures Top-15 Qualifying Effort in Mexico City

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (March 5, 2005) --- While a street parade of drums,
whistles and colorful Mexican flags ushered the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline
team through its final tech inspection, Jamie McMurray readied for his
place in NASCAR history. A little more than two-and-half miles later,
McMurray stood in 14th-place on the international motorsports stage for
tomorrow's inaugural road course Busch Series event in Mexico City.

 

Laying down an impressive 101.954 mph lap, McMurray will take the
historic green flag on the outside of Clint Bowyer in row 7 for the
80-lap race. Surrounded by thousands of cheering fans, native son Jorge
Goeters grabbed the qualifying laurels and crossed the start/finish line
at 103.366 mph. 

 

"I'm really excited about our qualifying run today," McMurray said. "The
biggest challenge for me during qualifying was the car continues to rear
up from rear end weight. The front brakes were awesome, but I was pretty
tight on the gas through the 'SS's' and both ways. After the wreck
yesterday, I can't thank my crew enough for all their hard work to get
me back on track today. Since we didn't have a back-up car, they spent
nearly five hours changing over the suspension, motor and brakes on my
teammate Reed Sorenson's back-up car. Everyone at Chip Ganassi Racing
did an amazing job for me to compete in this historic event for my team
and for Texaco/Havoline."

Since touching down south of the border, the Texaco/Havoline team's luck
has been as unpredictable as the Autodrom Hermanos Rodriguez course
itself. Despite electrical problems and malfunctioning warning lights
during yesterday's first practice session, McMurray returned to the
track only to spin out in turns 7 and 8 and make hard contact with the
retaining wall. 

Thirteenth fastest in the first practice session, McMurray was one of
many drivers forced to their back up cars during the day's wreck-filled
practice sessions. Starting the second practice in his teammates backup
car intended for the upcoming Phoenix International Raceway event, he
closed out the day in the 20th position atop the board.

But despite on-track struggles, McMurray's experiences in Mexico have
been nothing but positive.

"Everyone has been so nice and welcoming," McMurray said. "And
everything is so festive- there's music everywhere and everyone's laid
back and relaxed. I've had such a great time because of it and want to
come back."

In his first-ever road course appearance, Busch Series teammate Reed
Sorenson put the No. 41 Discount Tire Dodge 19th on the starting grid
and was the third-highest qualifying rookie.

Action from the Texaco/Havoline team's first-ever Busch Series event
will be televised on FOX at 3 p.m. EST. The Telcel Motorola 200
presented by Banamex will be broadcast on MRN affiliates nationwide
beginning at 2:45 p.m. EST.