NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS 400
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
MAY 8, 2015
JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Kansas Speedway and discussed what it would mean to win at his ‘home’ track, more females taking on different roles in the sport, and many other topics. Full Transcript:
TALK ABOUT YOUR CAR THIS WEEKEND AND WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO GET TO VICTORY LANE TOMORROW NIGHT:
“We had somewhat of a long first practice just missed the set-up when we unloaded. But Matt (McCall) and Josh (Sell, engineer) did a really good job of getting the car back I thought where we needed it to be. Then made a qualifying run right at the very end and I think made it up to sixth so it was pretty good. I feel like we should qualify well. We have a good baseline of what we need to do for tomorrow night. There is always kind of that unknown going into a night race when you practice all day during the day. So, make somewhat of educated guesses on what we think the track is going to do and hopefully have a good night.”
A COUPLE OF MONTH WITH THE NEW PIT ROAD TECHNOLOGY WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON HOW THAT HAS PLAYED OUT?
“Well I personally haven’t noticed any difference other than the fact that the officials aren’t in the way as you are trying to get in or out of your stall. That was always frustrating with those guys trying to be on the right side of the car. Maybe it was the car in front of you or the car behind you and if you were doing two tires and they weren’t aware of that you would have to wait on them to get out of the way.
“Other than there just being less people on pit road it has been a seamless transition for me. I was a little nervous about the driving through three pit stalls because I felt like all of us cheated that or that we all maybe drove through more pit stalls than we should have. So being a little bit conscious of that is the only thing I have noticed and I don’t even pay attention anymore to it.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT MORE AND MORE WOMEN ARE GETTING INTO THE SPORT AND IS THIS THE FIRST WOMAN YOU HAVE HAD ON YOUR MECHANIC TEAM?
“So Ashley (Parlett) has been on our car I guess she started three or four races from the end of last year. She is just a really hard worker. Even though she is a female she is kind of just one of the team. I don’t think anyone views her differently than any of the other guys. She has the same conversations, she is a jokester and she is really fun to hang out with. I think for me when I look at our team she is the same in that we all grew up racing. That is all we have ever done. Most of the people on my team have all actually driven, whether it’s a kart or a sprint car or a midget. They have raced some type of a car. Ashley is the same. When we kind of all told our story over the winter for the new people we all told where we came from I thought it was really interesting just we all have the same story. She fits the same mold.”
DOES SHE HAVE IT HARDER TIME GETTING ACCEPTED IN THE GARAGE THAN ANYBODY ELSE?
“Oh I don’t think so. She is pretty funny on social media and most of the garage follows each other.
“I think that everyone in the garage really likes her. She is just a hard worker. If you sit back, you know I get out of the car while everyone is working on it and you just kind of observe everybody. Ashley works extremely hard, so, no, I think she is accepted. She is just one of the team members now she just happens to be female.”
WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO WIN HERE? DID YOU ENJOY FISHING WITH YOUR DAD?
“Well as far as fishing I actually came out on Tuesday. My Dad and I went to Bass Pro Shops farm and we fished about 12 hours a day the last three days. I’m glad that I got to come here and take a break from our activity. It was a lot of fun. It’s really great father/son bonding time. Johnny Morris actually came out and went fishing with my Dad and I. It was great to hear, he told stories about his Dad and some about his son. It’s nice to kind of hang out and just be normal for a few days. So we had a great time fishing. My Dad actually came to the race with me this weekend. That is nice he only comes to maybe one or two races a year.
“As far as winning here, I don’t view this as a different race from anywhere else, other than knowing a lot more people as I walk out of the Media Center here and recognize faces that I haven’t seen in years. This is just as important as any other race. I don’t view it any differently than where we are racing next weekend.”
DO YOU CONSIDER KANSAS TO BE YOUR HOME TRACK?
“Yeah, I listen to Carl (Edwards) or Clint (Bowyer) maybe talk about that a little more than what I do. I mean I grew up three hours from here. So here and Texas are kind of… I mean I live in the middle of that. I don’t know. This isn’t a home track because we’ve all raced here the same amount of times. It’s not like we grew up racing here. It would be special to win here, but it would be special to win anywhere.”
YOUR POINT STANDING RIGHT NOW IS THE BEST OF YOUR CAREER AT THIS POINT IN A SEASON. HOW HAVE YOU DONE THAT DESPITE FINISHING RACES WELL?
“Well Matt McCall (crew chief) has come on board and has done a great job in giving us good cars. But we’ve also had, when we’ve had a bad race, it’s gone our way. And I say that when we were running fifth at Bristol and blew the right front tire out with 20 laps to go. That could easily be a 40th place finish, but there weren’t many cars on the lead lap and I was able to limp around and still finish 14th. That’s a 20-point swing, really, from where we could have been. And we’ve had a couple of those this year where we ran really well, and something happened.
“And instead of it resulting in a 35th or 40th place finish, we were still able to get like a top 15 out of it. When I look at the points, if you just get a couple of those, that’s almost a whole race that you add to your points. But on top of that, we’ve probably run better consistently this year than what I ever have. So, it comes down to just good cars, a good team and just really being able to finish the whole race.”
THE WEATHER FORECAST IS FOR BAD WEATHER TOMORROW NIGHT. A LOT OF DRIVERS HAVE INDICATED THEY’D RATHER FINISH THE RACE TOMORROW NIGHT WITH A DELAY BECAUSE THEY HAVE MOTHER’S DAY PLANS. HOW ABOUT YOU?
“I pay attention to the weather. I just want to race whenever it’s time. I will tell you that I think it’s super frustrating when we start the race and then race for an hour and then you take a break and then you race for an hour. I think that’s really frustrating. But, I just want to race when it’s time to race and whenever NASCAR decides, I’m good with it. To me, it’s one thing for rain; but it seems like it’s typical Midwest weather that they are expecting late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. And I’m in the same boat as any fan that’s here who is camping out. You don’t want to be in a motor home if there is potential for tornados and stuff to come through. I hope we are able to get it in and hopefully go home before the really bad weather gets here.”
IF YOU HAVE TO EVOLVE, HOW DO YOU DO THAT WHERE THE TRACK COULD BE ONE WAY FOR QUALIFYING AND THEN IT COULD CHANGE RAPIDLY WHEN YOU ACTUALLY START THE RACE?
WHAT’S INVOLVED WHEN THE WEATHER COULD BE SO DIFFERENT FROM DAY TO DAY?
“We’re going to have similar conditions in qualifying today as what we had in practice. Tomorrow, the big difference will just be if it rains and it washes all the rubber off the track. It seems like the tire that we’re on here is laying more rubber down than is typical. And it got pretty black and the balance of the car changed with that. But it’s the same for everybody and I think it will rubber back in fairly quickly, so I don’t see that as being a big deal.”