NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
BOJANGLES’ SOUTHERN 500
DARLINGTON RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 2, 2016
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media via a NASCAR Teleconference to discuss this weekend’s race at Darlington, his thoughts on Dale Earnhardt, Jr. being out of the car for the remainder of the season, his hopes at making this seasons Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and many other topics. Full Transcript:
TALK ABOUT HOW EXCITING IT IS FOR YOU TO HAVE A THROWBACK PAINT SCHEME THIS WEEKEND:
“Well, I have watched over the last couple of years all the different paint schemes that those guys have shown up with and it is always fun to get to Darlington if you haven’t seen anything social media wise of what guys are going to be running for special paint schemes. I’ve been pretty jealous that I haven’t got to be a part of that. Last year, I thought Kyle Larson had the coolest throwback scheme with the Days of Thunder, Kyle Petty, Mello Yellow car. So, we have been working on that. It’s not as easy as just going to a partner and saying we want to do this. You have to be able to still make it work with what they are trying to get out of their partnership. We actually had a meeting a few months ago with McDonald’s and they loved the idea of bringing back a retro paint scheme and something that was really popular at the time. I remember watching that car on TV. It is cool to get to have that on your car and be a part of what Darlington has put together.”
HIS THOUGHTS ON THE CHASE AND HOW KYLE LARSON IS GOING TO DO:
“Well, I think and you look at the best time to be able to win a race and feel like your cars are the best they’ve been all year it’s right now. I think that the No. 42 car has been really good at a lot of different tracks this year. They’ve maybe not had the best luck, but have had a lot of speed. They have run really well at a lot of races and maybe didn’t get the finish that they deserved. I think that they have as good a shot at this as anybody. To me the story is the Gibbs cars seem pretty normal the last couple of weeks. My gut tells me they are holding back and maybe not showing everything that they have. So, when we get to Chicago we will find out if they have been holding back or if they have been showing their hand and that is just all the speed that they have right now. Until you get to Chicago and you kind of see when everybody brings their best stuff out it is hard to kind of pick anything at this point.”
WHAT IS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND AS A CHASE BUBBLE DRIVER?
“Yeah I mean just do exactly what we’ve been doing. As an organization our cars are better right now than they have been all year long. At the beginning of the year we did a really good job of making sure you finished and maybe getting a little bit more out of, finishing better than where you ran most of the race. So that kept us in a position to be in the Chase. Obviously, with (Tony) Stewart being able to pull off the win at Sonoma and then Chris Buescher in the rain delay at Pocono and Kyle (Larson) winning last week all guys that are behind you in points, that has put a little more pressure on the three or four guys that are fighting for one of the last spots to get in. But, we’ve run so well the last few weeks and we are going to two tracks that historically I’ve run pretty well at. So, if we don’t have anything crazy happen we are going to be in really good shape.”
WHAT IS CALE YARBOROUGH’S LEGACY IN NASCAR IN YOUR MIND?
“Well, gosh I don’t know that I’m the guy to … I just remember Cale as just being one of the guys that just a fighter I think is the word that comes to mind. I remember he is not the biggest guys, but I remember this massive neck and just the guy that would grit his teeth and get down and be able to do it when the time counted.”
CAN YOU THINK BACK TO WHEN YOU SUBSTITUTED FOR STERLING MARLIN AND KIND OF RELATE THAT TO MAYBE WHAT ALEX BOWMAN HAS BEEN GOING THROUGH THE LAST COUPLE OF TIMES HE’S BEEN IN THE NO. 88 AND WHAT HE WILL BE GOING THROUGH THE REST OF THE SEASON:
“Well, if you are a driver that is trying to make it in the sport there is no better position to be put in than to get in a car like that, because you know that you have an opportunity, maybe not to win, but you are in a car that is capable of winning and running up front and showing guys what you can do if you are in the right equipment. Everyone wants the chance to get in a really good car and Alex has done, I think, a phenomenal job at jumping right in and having a lot of speed and racing well. The flip side of that is if you get in that car and you don’t run well, then you lose your opportunity at maybe ever getting that shot again. I think that Alex has, even though he hasn’t pulled off a win, he has had really good speed and I think to me what sticks out the most is he is not even really in a car every week. If you were in a truck every week or an Xfinity car week in and week out and then you were filling in that would be one thing. But he hasn’t really been racing that much this year. To jump in and do what he has done at a track like Loudon which is one style or racing and then to go to a place like Michigan, that is completely different he has just done an awesome job. I know that probably for him the phone is not ringing as much as he wants it to, but he is going to get an opportunity because to me he has really shown that he is capable of it.”
HOW NERVOUS WERE YOU STEPPING IN FOR STERLING MARLIN? COMPARE THAT TO MAYBE HOW NERVOUS ALEX IS CONSIDERING WHEN YOU STEPPED IN YOU KIND OF KNEW WHAT YOUR FUTURE WAS.
“Well I can’t speak for Alex because I don’t know what is going through his mind. I can only tell you that for me it is as nervous as you can get. I had raced my whole truck and Busch Series at the time, in cars that I think my Busch car had won like one or two races in seven or eight years. It wasn’t necessarily a winning car, and then all of a sudden I got in Sterling’s car that had I think won a couple of races earlier that year and it had led the points up to that point, it was a really good car. So, there is a lot of pressure on you to run well because you know that you are in a car that is capable of winning. So, really nervous and then once we won in Charlotte it was like super relieving because not only is that a confidence builder for you, but I think in all the people that are around you.”
HOW DO YOU SEE DALE EARNHARDT, JR.’S ABSENCE IMPACTING THE SPORT?
“I don’t know. I will tell you the part that is super scary on top of the medical side of it. When Dale, Jr. is the most popular driver in our sport and you don’t show up to the track for two or three weeks, not that you are forgotten, but it’s crazy how things move on. I don’t know that any of us knew what to expect or how that was going to go, but I don’t know how to say that and to be like correct. I think that we just have to wait and see kind of what happens with Dale, Jr. He is iconic and he is obviously the most popular guy, but it will move on and it will continue to be a great form of auto racing in the United States.”
GIVEN YOUR POSITION IN THE STANDINGS, WHAT’S A DAY LIKE TODAY WHEN IT GETS WIPED OUT AT THE TRACK DO FOR YOU? ARE YOU SUPER ANTSY JUST TO WANT TO GET TO THE TRACK AND GET TO WORK AND MAKE SURE THAT YOU’RE DOING EVERYTHING YOU POSSIBLY CAN? WHAT’S TODAY GOING TO BE LIKE FOR YOU?
“Well, I’ve been working on my RC (Radio Control) car for most of the day, today. It’s been pretty laid-back. Look, when I saw it was going to rain all day Friday, you never know what NASCAR is going to do with the schedule. You don’t know if there will be like a 40-minute practice and then we qualify and that’s what you get. But once I saw that get basically a normal amount of practice tomorrow, I think we’re going to start 13th maybe; so we’ll get a somewhat decent pit selection and you’ll get a good starting position, and that’s going to be a good track for us. I feel really good heading into the weekend. It’s not that big of a deal that the rain has happened because tomorrow is going to be regular. I view it as we qualified 13th and we’re going into tomorrow with our regular practice schedule and then we’re going to race on Sunday.”
WITH YOUR ORGANIZATION WINNING LAST WEEK AND YOU HAVE FINISHED IN THE TOP 10 EACH OF THE LAST THREE RACES, DOES THAT GIVE YOU MORE CONFIDENCE HEADING INTO THE CHASE THAN YOU HAD LAST YEAR?
“When I look at the last two years of our team and our whole organization, we started off last year really the strongest that we were. We made that final round of qualifying in like the first eight or 10 races and ran really well. When we got to the Chase last year, we did bring new cars out, but honestly, they didn’t have any more speed in them than what we had been racing. I think we were only a point or two from making it through at Dover and we were pretty consistent in the Chase, we weren’t fast enough. But at this point, right now, our cars are the best they’ve been in two years. Kyle (Larson, teammate) won last week and we have been super-consistent running in the top 10 for the most part in the last five or six weeks. So yeah, if we can get locked in, and with the No. 42 (Larson) already locked in, I feel really good about our chances.”
HOW DOES DARLINGTON SUIT YOUR DRIVING STYLE?
“I happened to hear Elliott Sadler talk about his first time there (in teleconference); and mine was somewhat similar. I remember watching that race on TV. When you’re a driver, you don’t really know what it’s going to be like to run that close to the wall. And at the time, when I came along in the early 2000’s, guys didn’t run real high at race tracks. Like that wasn’t a common line that you would see. Right now, we’ll go to Homestead or some other 1.5-mile, and we’ll run right against the wall and it’s kind of normal. But you didn’t do that then. For me, growing up running short tracks, you never had done that. So, you don’t really know what to expect. But I remember going there and testing and it just kind of happens. It is pretty edgy. When you turn down the hill off of Turn 2, sensational-wise, it’s one of the fastest corners in our sport. Every lap feels like you’re going to wreck. But, as far as running up by the wall, you just kind of get acclimated to that and you get used to it. The most fun part about Darlington though is that the tires wear out so much. If you have a good car and the guy in front of you is losing three seconds a lap and you’re only losing two and a half, you’re going to be able to pass that guy. And that makes such a big difference and it’s so much more fun when we go to tracks that have that falloff like what Darlington does. I think almost everybody enjoys going there because of the big tire falloff there.”
NEXT WEEK YOU GO TO RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY; AND IN LOOKING AHEAD, WHAT ARE THE PARTICULAR CHALLENGES OF THAT RACE TRACK THAT MAKE IT SO DIFFICULT AND CHALLENGING FOR DRIVERS?
“It’s kind of two of the same thing in that the tires fall off a ton at Richmond as well. Ten or 12 laps in, you’re going to lose a second a lap from your fast lap. You typically have long green-flag runs; so being able to be good on a long run is really important there. That’s a fun track and even though it’s only ¾ of a mile, it’s a lot of the same stuff you’ll find at Darlington this weekend because of how abrasive the track is and how bad the tires get worn out. You’re kind of fighting the same thing at those places.”
IF DALE EARNHARDT JR. IS NOT ABLE TO RETURN AND HE DOESN’T COME BACK TO A CAR, AND WE DON’T KNOW THAT, WHAT WOULD A GOOD ROLE BE FOR HIM? HOW DO YOU SEE HIM PROGRESSING GIVEN HIS MOST POPULAR DRIVER STATUS? WHAT WOULD YOU SEE FOR HIM?
“Well, that’s not for me to decide. He needs to do whatever would make him happy in whatever role that would be. He’s super passionate about the sport. He’s huge on the history of the sport. Whatever makes him happy is what I would like to see him do. He’s going to be around whether he’s driving or not. But, I think he’s going to have to figure that out on his own and see what he likes doing and what he enjoys doing. I’m like the rest of you, if he’s not going to drive anymore, I’m as anxious to see what he’s going to do as anyone.”
HE’S BEEN A LEADER IN THE DRIVER COUNCIL; CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HIS ROLE IN THAT?
“Well, I was on the council last year and we all would like of laugh because on a text message or email, he would just type paragraphs. He had this great information and always had these ideas, and then you’d get in the meeting and he would just be a mute (laughs), like he never said anything. And then, as soon as the meeting was over, your phone would start blowing up again. And we’re like, ‘Why didn’t he talk in the meeting?’ But he has some really good ideas. I feel like most of the other drivers. We enjoy talking to him and giving ideas to him. Everyone has a different perspective on what they think is right and wrong. When you get 10 guys in the room, you would assume since you all do the same thing at the same time that you would all agree on track bar adjusters and caution clocks and all the topics that come up. But, you get in there and everyone has a different opinion. And so, I think he’s a good moderator and everyone values his opinion; and he’s done a phenomenal job at that.”
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