NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
COCA-COLA 600
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER RACE QUOTES
MAY 29, 2011
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS/HOPE FOR JOPLIN MO CHEVROLET, retired from the race on lap 181 with engine failure: DID YOU HAVE ANY WARNING THE ENGINE WAS IN TROUBLE? “No, the car ran really well all night and it ran really well on the restart. It wasn’t hot, the oil temp wasn’t hot. Something broke big in the motor. You can break valve springs and stuff and kind of baby it the remainder of the race. But, whatever broke just then was really big.”
YOU HAVE YOUR HOMETOWN OF JOPIN MISSOURI ON THE SIDE OF THE CAR, I KNOW YOU WERE TRYING TO GIVE THE PEOPLE THERE AS MUCH EXPOSURE AS POSSIBLE: “It is really special for Johnny Morris (owner of Bass Pro Shops) to let us take Tracker (Boats) off the side and put on Hope for Joplin, Missouri on the side. It has been devastating what has happened to those people. And those are my people. I’m from there. It is heartbreaking to see that but I am really fortunate that I have a really good group of sponsors that support me and are going to help us rebuild Joplin, MO.”
WHAT HAPPENED? “The motor let go. I’m not real sure. I would guess it was a rod or something. It was significant. You can break a valve spring and kind of baby it for the remainder of the race, but whatever broke, it shook really hard and smoked. Usually when oil runs out the bottom, it’s not good.”
TALK ABOUT SUPPORTING JOPLIN ON YOUR CAR: “It was really special for Bass Pro Shops to take Tracker off the side and put Joplin, Missouri on there. They have helped me a lot this past week with putting together ways to raise money to help rebuild Joplin. It’s my hometown. It was heartbreaking to see the tornado and see all the people that lost their homes and the ones that lost their lives. It is really special that Johnny let us put that on there. Hopefully we made some people proud tonight.”
HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO HAVE A CAR THAT WAS RUNNING UP FRONT AND A CONTENDER TO HAVE SOMOETHING LIKE THIS HAPPEN? “Well, if I am honest, we’ve run really bad all year. So I would rather run well and have something happen. We had something completely different in our car this weekend. The engineering department worked really hard on Friday because we struggled really the first 10 races and they just happened to hit on something on Friday. That gives us a lot of hope for the remainder of the season.”
ON WHAT HAPPENED: ” “Our engineering department did a really good job on Friday. They didn’t take the day off. They went into the shop and they re-worked a lot of the geometry in the front end and they came up; with something completely different and the car was completely different on Saturday. I was just excited to have a car again that I thought we could contend with. I think the cooler it got, the better our car was going to be. But it’s just the way our season has gone. I have to say a special thank you to John Morris of Bass Pro Shops. He took Tracker Boats off the side of our car and let us put Joplin, Missouri on it and everybody knows the tragedy that happened there. But it meant a lot to me personally that he let us put ‘Hope for Joplin, MO’ on it and hopefully it made some people proud; I know that they need some cheering up right now.”
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