WRAL Sports Fan

NASCAR

McMurray expects strong outing this season

By SceneDaily.com

Feb 4, 2009

Jamie McMurray says he’s delighted to be reunited with crew chief Donnie Wingo and hoping that they’ll enjoy even more success in their new partnership at Roush Fenway Racing than they did when McMurray broke into the Cup ranks with Wingo at Chip Ganassi Racing.

"I think that Donnie is one of the best crew chiefs in our sport," said McMurray, 32. "We had a lot of success at Ganassi with lesser equipment, I felt like. To get to have him and to be in the equipment, the Fords that we're in here, the engineering, everything that goes along with Roush Fenway Racing, I can't wait to see how that works out for us."

McMurray says that he and Wingo have remained close over the years, even when competing for separate teams.

"Donnie remained one of my better friends, even for the three years he wasn't my crew chief," the driver said. "He lives by me … There's a comfort zone there with him. And on top of being comfortable, he's a really, really good crew chief. He calls races really well. And if you look, every driver that Donnie's had, they have run better when they were with him than with any other crew chief."

That is true of McMurray, who had the best finishes of his career while at Ganassi. He was 13th in the standings in 2003, 11th in 2004 and 12th in 2005. His best points finish in three seasons with Roush Fenway came in 2008, when he finished 16th.

The McMurray and Wingo reunion appears to be perfect timing for the driver considering he is the only Roush Fenway driver not under contract beyond this season. That's pivotal since Roush Fenway must drop to four Cup teams prior to next season in order to meet NASCAR restrictions.

While no one has named a team that would be moved away from Roush - and presumably into the Yates Racing fold that has an alignment with the organization - that issue could hang over the organization this season.

McMurray says he isn’t bothered. He's still riding the wave of momentum that saw him finish third in the final three races of the 2008 season. And now, with Wingo in house, he's focused on the competitive aspects of this season. The rest, he figures, is out of his control.
"It hasn't been discussed, and I think that if [team co-owner] Jack [Roush] or [President] Geoff [Smith] were to come out and say, ‘This is the team that's going to move,’ it would be different, but you can't really worry about something where you don't have any control over it, first off,” McMurray said. “But until they announce something there's not really any reason to think about it.”