Brickyard 400 - Jamie McMurray Notes

Jamie McMurray, No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge
Brickyard 400 Race Advance
August 8, 2004, NBC Television, 2:00 p.m. ET

Texaco/Havoline Racing Fast Facts:

Chassis #307: Crew Chief Donnie Wingo and the Texaco/Havoline team are bringing chassis #307 to compete in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In four starts in 2004, chassis #307 has posted one top-five and two top-10 finishes. McMurray last ran chassis #307 at Chicagoland Speedway. Chassis #307 is the same car McMurray and the Texaco/Havoline team raced to a third-place finish with last year in the Brickyard 400.

McMurray Notes: McMurray heads into Indy sitting 15th in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup points, 133 points out of the NASCAR Top 10. The Joplin, Mo. native has posted four top-five and 10 top-10 finishes through the first 20 races of the 2004 season. McMurray qualified 22nd and finished third in his first race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last year (8/3/03).

McMurray and the Texaco/Havoline team spent two days testing Chassis #307 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last month in preparation for Sunday’s Brickyard 400.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is hallowed ground for car owner Chip Ganassi. Ganassi has two victories as a car owner in the Indy 500 (Emerson Fittapaldi – 1989; Juan Montoya – 2000).

Jamie McMurray Quotes:

Indy Thoughts: “I’m really looking forward to Indy this weekend. We had an awesome test there a few weeks back, and we’re bringing the same car that we finished third with in the Brickyard 400 last year.”

“Do I feel like Indy owes us one after last year? There’s probably a little part of me that feels that way. I mean, there at the end of last year’s race, the Texaco/Havoline Dodge had pulled out to a comfortable lead and then the caution flag waved. I got held up on the outside line on the restart, and we ended up finishing third. That was definitely hard to take. But I really feel like we’re heading back to Indy this year with a stronger car and a really good shot at the victory.”