New England 300 - Jamie McMurray Notes

Jamie McMurray, No. 42 Havoline Dodge
New England 300 Race Advance

RACE INFORMATION:

EVENT: New England 300 (Race 19 of 36)
TRACK: New Hampshire International Speedway
QUALIFYING: Friday, July 18 at 3:05 p.m. EST
RACE: Sunday, July 20 at 2:00 p.m. EST
BROADCAST: TNT Television and MRN Radio

HAVOLINE TEAM FACTS:

* Chassis: The Havoline team will race chassis #301. McMurray has raced Chassis #301 on two different occasions in 2003 at Martinsville and Richmond.

* McMurray is making his NASCAR Winston Cup Series debut at New Hampshire International Speedway this weekend. McMurray has two previous NASCAR Busch Series starts at New Hampshire International Speedway with a best finish of ninth (5/11/02).

* McMurray enters the New England 300 22nd in NASCAR Winston Cup Series points and currently sits second in the Raybestos Rookie-of-the-Year standings.

* McMurray heads into New Hampshire coming off a strong eighth-place finish last weekend at Chicagoland Speedway. It was McMurray's fourth top-10 finish of the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. McMurray has scored two top-five, four top-10 and seven top-15 finishes in the first 18 races of the 2003 Winston Cup season.

* McMurray will be pulling double duty this weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway as he will pilot the No. 1 Yellow Dodge in Saturday's NASCAR Busch Series race before climbing behind the wheel of the No. 42 Havoline Dodge for Sunday's New England 300.

JAMIE MCMURRAY QUOTES:

"I've been to Loudon twice in the Busch car and have run fairly well. I've heard a lot of guys complain about it, but I've always liked the track. It's just real hard to pass there. It seems like pit strategy and fuel mileage always play out at Loudon. You just try to get up underneath a guy off the corner to gain a position."

"Loudon is probably more like Milwaukee than anywhere else. Sterling has run well at Loudon and our short track program has been pretty good. Even though Loudon is a mile around, it's still kind of like a short track, so I think we'll be pretty good."

"We're taking the same car we ran at Martinsville and Richmond earlier this year and we had top-five runs going in both of those races until we had engine problems."

JAMIE MCMURRAY SCORED HIS FOURTH TOP-10 FINISH OF THE 2003 SEASON IN THE TROPICANA 400 AT CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY. HE TRAILS GREG BIFFLE BY EIGHT POINTS (196-188) IN THE RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE STANDINGS ENTERING SUNDAY'S RACE AT NEW HAMPSHIRE.

JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 42 HAVOLINE DODGE:

"I don't know that we've raced there long enough (in the Busch Series) to let the track tear up. I've been there twice and have run fairly well there so I like it. I've heard a lot of guys complain about it but I've always liked it."

HOW DO YOU PASS? "Just try to get up underneath the guy I guess off the corner, kind of like everywhere else. It seems like pit strategy and fuel mileage always play out at Loudon. Just try to get up underneath a guy up off the corner."

HOW HARD IS THE TRACK ON BRAKES? "I've never had any problem there in the Busch car. The Cup races are longer, but I don't think so. They seem to say that Richmond and Martinsville are harder on brakes than anywhere else and we don't have a problem there so I can't imagine anything being bad at Loudon."

CAN YOU COMPARE LOUDON TO ANY OTHER TRACK THAT YOU GO TO? "It's probably more like Milwaukee than anywhere else. It seems like we go to a mile-and-a-half track we run this set of springs and then if you to a short track you run those. Sterling ran pretty well there a couple of years ago. Our short track program has been pretty good. All three cars run pretty well on short tracks. Even though that place is a mile around, it's still kind of like a short track so I think we will be pretty good."

THERE HAVE BEEN CHANGES TO THE TRACK IN RECENT YEARS. HAS THE RACING IMPROVED? "No, I didn't. They made it a little bit shorter but I don't know that it got any better. It just seemed like the groove was a little bit lower. Like I say with the Busch car I don't think you race long enough to really let the racetrack throw those marbles up. I don't know that there are two grooves. There might be a groove-and-a-half or something but there's certainly not two grooves there. On a racetrack like that where it's so flat it's hard to make two grooves."

IS IT EASY TO LOOSE YOUR TEMPER AT NEW HAMPSHIRE? "It's just really hard to pass. It seems like you know that you are better than a guy and but the way that racetrack is laid out you think you can pass him but you can't get back in the gas quick enough or if you do it shoves the nose or gets loose on you. All racetracks are frustrating when you can't pass (laughs)."

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