Q. Jamie, congratulations, great performance out there. Certainly that No. 1 car was up front all night long.
JAMIE McMURRAY: Yeah, we had a great car. I was worried after Happy Hour. I didn’t feel like we had our car had really good speed, it just didn’t drive very good. Bono did a great job at making the right adjustments. Put a similar setup in it that we ran in the All Star Race. Really from the get go the car was really good. They did a nice job on adjusting it all night long. I really felt like we had a 10th place car at the beginning, made it about a fifth place car. About a hundred laps to go, track position, we had the best car.
It’s unfortunate that the caution came out. The car had so much speed in it that I was only having to drive about 90%, I was still able to run a 10th and a half or so quicker. The car just had really good speed in it tonight. They did a great job adjusting on it.
You know, I knew whoever came out ahead on that last pit stop between Kurt and I, if somebody didn’t screw up, that would be the race winner. It would take me too many laps to run Kurt down. You get within 10 or 12 car lengths, you stall out. I just didn’t have enough time in the end.
Q Jamie, during that last stretch, how much was in your mind of the potential for this to be even more historic day for Chip Ganassi, since you talked to him about the race when he got here? Did you think you had anything for Kurt on the last run?
JAMIE McMURRAY: I thought if I could get on the outside of Kurt in the first few laps I would have something for him, our cars were so even for the first 10 or 15 laps. With him being in the clean air, it’s just hard to get a run on him.
It was amazing the speed that we were able to run, how much wide open throttle you ran the first 10 or 12 laps of a run. It’s hard to pass when you’re running at that speed.
Honestly, I didn’t think much about winning today because of Chip winning the 500. He did come on my radio about halfway through when he showed up and tried to talk because he didn’t know he was talking to me. I yelled. I didn’t know who it was. Then they told me under caution that that was Chip. That was kind of funny. That was a good moment to have with him.
But I haven’t seen him since the 500. He talked on the radio a little bit on one of those cautions and really that’s all we discussed about it.
Q Jamie, shortly before you took the lead for the first time you came over the radio and said, You can radio up to the 2 car, tell him I’ll be there in a second. Did you have an idea then that your car had become really good at that time? That’s unusually bragging a little bit on your part, wasn’t it?
JAMIE McMURRAY: Well, Kevin does a really good job at being very relaxed throughout the races, typically saying funny stuff, will make me laugh. I don’t do a very good job at playing that game back. I’m usually very serious.
But, you know, honestly, my car drove so well tonight that I knew if it kept driving like that, it was going to be hard for anyone to outrun us. I was just trying to have fun there. I’m really good friends with Kurt. We’re probably going to hang out tomorrow. We live a few blocks from each other, are really good friends.
I was just having fun.
Q Jamie, can you talk about how much running the Nationwide car has helped you on Sundays.
JAMIE McMURRAY: Well, I don’t know that’s actually helped me. We had really fast cars at the beginning of the year and I wasn’t running the Nationwide races. But I’ve had a lot of fun getting to run those. It’s pretty cool to get to drive for Dale Jr. it’s pretty much his whole family that works over there. It’s been a lot of fun for me.
I don’t know that it has helped that much. The cars drive so much different. It’s a pretty big challenge to get out of the Nationwide car and then get in the Cup car and go back and forth. It takes a couple laps to get used to that. There’s so much speed difference. I wish they would take the Nationwide car, take that plate, cut about half the spoiler off so they would drive bad. You just can run so much throttle on the track.
Q Jamie, earlier in the race you talked about you had kind of struggled getting in and out of your pit box. Obviously that last pit stop you got beat off pit road. Bono came over after the race and told the guys good job. Was it more a matter of getting in and out of your pit box that was the issue? What was the problem?
JAMIE McMURRAY: I don’t know about the last stop. I think we didn’t have a great stop. I don’t think it was that bad. It just wasn’t perfect. The issue that I had earlier in the race, the boxes are concrete, they always spray ‘em with like Coke syrup or whatever we’re using now. Normally they’re really sticky, especially when they’re concrete.
But my pit stall was really slick, like trying to stop. Then when I would try to leave, it was almost like it was wet. I couldn’t get going. I was losing a lot of spots in the pits.
That last stop, I mean, it probably hurt me a little bit, but I don’t think that is necessarily what caused us to come out third.
Q We’re halfway through the ‘regular season.’ How would you assess where you feel you are and what you need to do the next 13 races to maintain or get a spot in the Chase?
JAMIE McMURRAY: Yeah, I mean, every race that we’ve actually finished without an issue, we’ve had a top five car. It’s been incredible the speed that our cars have had all year long.
We run second one week and 30th the next. It’s just about being a little bit more consistent. Like Kyle said, Pocono is not a very good track for me. Next week will be about getting a solid finish out of it. If that means 10th or 15th, you need to finish there, not screw up, run 30th.
The performance of our cars has been really good. Juan has been the same way. It’s just about getting the finishes.
Q Jamie, can you talk about the chemistry between you and Bono.
JAMIE McMURRAY: Yeah, I mean, Bono was my most pleasant surprise coming to EGR. I didn’t know him. I parked next to Martin over the last few years. I knew Bono from the Busch Series at the time. I had seen him interviewed on TV. I didn’t really know him. I didn’t realize how much our personalities were alike.
He’s become a really good friend of mine. I don’t know. We just seem to think alike. I feel like I do a really good job of listening to the crew chief and the engineers talk. When I feel like I need something with my car, I’ll suggest that. Kevin, when we sit in our debriefs after practice, he doesn’t talk a lot. He’s just like, I want you to talk and I want to listen, feel you out. He sits back and he just listens to what I have to say. Usually he thinks about it for four or five hours, I’ll call him later on and ask him what he’s thinking.
He does a really good job. The thing that I like the most about him is that Bono in his spare time works on his racecar. When he has an extra 30 minutes or extra day off, he works on his modified. He just loves racing that much. This is his life. He’s a racer. You know, I’m the same way. I’ve got like a little kart shop. When I have spare time, I work on my go karts. We just are a lot alike. That’s been the best surprise for me coming over here.
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