Jamie McMurray, driver of the No. 26 Crown Royal Ford Fusion, snapped a 166-race winless drought with his victory at Daytona last Saturday night. The win also moved him into 13th place in the standings, just 49 points out of the final Chase position.

JAMIE McMURRAY – No. 26 Crown Royal Ford Fusion – HOW’S YOUR WEEK BEEN? “It’s been really busy. I told Matt that I didn’t mind doing all the call-ins and everything, because everything’s been positive, and it’s fun to talk about a win, and the way that we were able to win – it was so close. It was a pretty exciting finish, and it’s been real cool to talk about.”

HAS THE END OF THAT 166-RACE WINLESS DROUGHT SUNK IN YET? “Yeah. I didn’t think a lot about that before and I haven’t really thought about it afterwards. We came close to winning a couple of races this year, and everyone has that throughout their career where you come close and just different circumstances would’ve put you in victory lane. So, I haven’t thought about that a lot, but it is certainly nice to get that over with so I don’t have to talk about it with all of you.”

ROUSH FENWAY RACING HAS WON TWO OF THE LAST FOUR RACES – AND IF THE 42 RUNS OUT OF GAS AT SONOMA AND NOT YOU, AND CARL EDWARDS DOESN’T HAVE HIS PROBLEM AT NEW HAMPSHIRE, IT COULD’VE BEEN FOUR STRAIGHT WINS FOR ROUSH FENWAY. DO YOU FEEL A ROUSH RESURGENCE? “Well, we’ve been really strong at the last four races. Jack’s put a lot of emphasis on getting our car of tomorrow program stronger, and at Loudon and Sonoma, both Carl and I had a chance to win the race. So, I think that shows we’re heading in the right direction. Our mile-and-a-half program has always been strong – even when thing weren’t great last year, or even this year, the mile-and-a-half program’s strong. So, if we can get our car of tomorrow program just a little bit better, I feel like we’ll have everything down.”

EVERYTHING IS CYCLICAL IN NASCAR. COULD THIS BE THE START OF A ROUSH FENWAY STREAK, SIMILAR TO WHAT HENDRICK HAD EARLIER IN THE YEAR? “I hope so. For the last month we’ve been strong and a contender to win, and that’s all you can ask for. If it’s your day, then it is, and if it’s not, then there’s not anything you can do about it. Roush Racing, as a whole, has been really strong the last month.”

YOU GOT SOME HELP FROM SOME TEAMMATES AT THE END OF LAST SATURDAY’S RACE. THAT WASN’T THE CASE WITH OTHER TEAMS. WHAT ARE THE RULES WHEN WORKING WITH A TEAMMATE? “Typically, every time you leave a speedway you’re usually disappointed with somebody because they didn’t help you, or they did what was best for them. When it works out for you it’s great. I know Jack’s been really proud this week, and John Henry called me last night and told me how cool it was to see all of the Roush cars lined up on the outside row. He’s like, ‘Yeah, you couldn’t ask for a better sight at Daytona than to have everybody working together.’ It just worked out for us there, that Carl and Matt and Greg and David were able to get in the same line as me, and that they didn’t get split and hung out. It’s hard to do it at a speedway race, to make that happen. It was really nice that we were all able to work together and it worked out for us.”

IT MUST’VE BEEN DIFFICULT FOR YOU, WONDERING WHEN THE WINLESS STREAK WAS GOING TO END. “When I look back through 2003, ’04, ’05 – ’06, ’07, all the years – there were a lot of opportunities that we came close to winning: the Brickyard, one year; Rockingham; Texas, we ran second. And certainly it’s disappointing. You can’t dwell on that. As long as you show up and you feel like you’re a contender – if you didn’t win – you have to look at the bright side of that. If a guy sits back and worries to death about not winning, he’s not focused on trying to win. I know it’s a big deal to all you guys, but I didn’t make a lot of that, because there’s nothing you can do about it.”

WAS YOUR TEAM AS OPTIMISTIC AS YOU? “At Talladega, if the caution comes out one second before it did, we end up winning the race and the 24 car finishes second. But, he just passed me the scoring loop before that and they threw the caution. So. I don’t know. We’ve run well at a few races this year. For the most part, the guys on the team feel really good about it, and Larry Carter is the key to that because he’s a good motivator and he’s always got the same demeanor and the same attitude. He’s never really up and he’s never really down, and I think that makes it easier for the guys on the team to have those same emotions, because he’s our leader and everybody looks to him for the way that he feels and the way that he’s acting, and if he’s got a good attitude, it seems to go on throughout the team.”

WHY THE RECENT ROUSH RESURGENCE? “I think a lot of that has to do with just the teams getting stronger. Carl and Bob [Osborne] got put back together this year, so you’re not going to have just immediate success. And then Larry and I working together; David’s been brand new. And then Matt won the third race out, so I just think the teams working together better, and our car of tomorrow program getting stronger. And, just like any other team, our engineering department, and the test team is working hard to make our cars better. The guys that are hanging bodies at the shop keep coming up with better ideas. It doesn’t take a whole lot to make your car go from a 10th-place car to a winning car; it’s pretty small changes. So, they’ve done a lot work. Each week, when we ship to the track, we have a set of shocks built up that the computer program says is going to be good, and about eight times out of 10 those seem to be better.”

SO, THE SEVEN-POST SHAKER IS HELPING? “Yeah. We have learned a lot from that. And when you show up and you look at what they came up with, sometimes it doesn’t make sense because it’s not something that’s normal or something you would say, ‘Oh, okay, that sounds good.’ At Sonoma, that whole set-up was based on, not only Boris’ feedback, but that was computer generated. The sport’s changed, and I think that Roush Racing was maybe a little bit behind, but we’ve done a really good job with catching up and doing as good a job, if not better, than other teams.”

Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 USG Sheetrock/DeWalt Ford Fusion, is in third place in the standings heading into this weekend’s race at Chicago. Kenseth finished eighth last weekend at Daytona, his 12th top-10 in 18 starts this year.

MATT KENSETH – No. 17 USG Sheetrock/DeWalt Ford Fusion – ON JAMIE McMURRAY’S VICTORY AT Daytona. “That’s really great for Jamie, and I’m sure his team feels good about it, I feel good about it. Jamie’s a friend of mine, and it’s really good for him, you can see it in his confidence, and for Larry Carter and that group, they’ve been working really hard on that deal and haven’t had exactly the results they wanted, but this year they’ve been much, much stronger. They’re real close to making the chase right now, and it was great to see that win.”

HOW WAS HE DURING THE DROUGHT? “Jamie’s always about the same, you know, whenever I talk to him. It doesn’t seem like anything really bothers him too much; I’m sure it does, but it doesn’t really come off like that. Jamie is pretty happy-go-lucky no matter what. I’m not saying it doesn’t bother him, he doesn’t want to run good, because I’m sure he does, but he always comes off as in a pretty good mood.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY? “I think the track will be real wide, they have been for the last couple of years, not matter where we’ve been – even Charlotte, with new pavement, was pretty wide in the spring. So, I think whatever reason, with these rules and tire package, we’ve been able to run high a lot more than we used to. So, I think there will be two good grooves, and the racing will be good.”

SINCE YOU’RE FROM WISCONSIN, IS THERE A HOME TRACK ADVANTAGE FOR YOU? “Well, not an advantage, but I certainly see fans and family and friends a lot more than, probably, any other track we go to. There’s a couple that have a lot – Bristol, places like that – but certainly see a lot of people here that I used to see. It kind of feels like home, coming up here.”

HOW WOULD YOU ASSESS YOUR SEASON, SO FAR? “It’s been okay. I feel like there’s a lot of room for improvement. I think there’s a lot of things that we’ve done really well. It’s been all right, but we need to be better to have a legitimate shot at the championship. We’re not running good enough to go out there and dominate the thing and beat them guys every week and take it like that, so we’ve got to get running a little bit better to run up top with those guys.”

WHERE DO YOU NEED TO IMPROVE? “Just need to get running a little bit better. I think the teamwork’s been great, we haven’t had any engine failures, pit stops have been great – we’ve just got to get running just a little bit better to beat them guys. You want to go into the Chase feeling like your performance is as good as anybody else’s, and try to win the thing on performance. Just got to get running a little bit better to challenge the top couple of guys.”

YOU WERE QUOTED AS GIVING YOURSELF A LOWER GRADE, LIKE A B-. WHY SO HARD ON YOURSELF? “Not just myself. There is no “I” in “team” so I think it’s all about all of us. It’s been about a B-. We started off real strong, we were able to win right away, we ran really good at the Daytona 500 and got wrecked right at the end. We started off really strong, but we kind of fell off a little bit. We haven’t been really a serious, legitimate threat to win here for a couple of months, so we’ve got to get up to that. In my opinion, we’ve never been an A+, my grading scale’s always at least a half a grade low, that’s just the way I am, but I don’t think you can ever be perfect. We’re pretty good. I think we’re pretty solid in the chase, unless we have some major problems coming up here in the next few weeks. Our goal is to win the championship and win races and we’re just a little ways away from that.”

IS THIS AN EXCITING WEEK FOR YOU BECAUSE OF ALL THE SUPPORT YOU GET HERE? “Yeah, for sure. I always look forward to coming back here. It’s really a nice track, and it’s a pretty good home crowd for us, so I’m always excited about coming here and having a shot at it.”

Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion, finished fourth last Saturday night in Daytona, and moved up to sixth in the series standings. At the end of the race, Edward provided key drafting help to Roush Fenway Racing teammate and eventual race winner Jamie McMurray.

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion – ROUSH FENWAY HAS BEEN ON QUITE A ROLL IN THE LAST FOUR RACES. DO YOU THINK THIS IS THE START OF A ROUSH RESURGENCE? “The way I see it is the beginning of the season we started, especially with the car of tomorrow being introduced because the way testing was done – or wasn’t done, on our part –and now we’re climbing back up that hill, I feel like the last five weeks – Sonoma, Michigan, New Hampshire, especially, and obviously Daytona – we’ve been contenders to win and we have won a couple of them. So, I feel great about it. I’m real excited about going forward here. I think we’ve got great stuff for Indy. The car of tomorrow is doing better and better, so it’s good.”

AND, CHICAGO IS YOUR KIND OF TRACK. “Right. This kind of track I feel very comfortable about our program. At Michigan we were awesome, and this is a lot like that. I feel like these standard cars and downforce tracks, they’re the tracks at which we’re best right now, but New Hampshire was pretty awesome, Daytona was pretty good.”

HOW MUCH DOES MICHIGAN TRANSLATE TO HERE? CAN YOU SAY THAT YOU RAN REALLY WELL AT MICHIGAN SO YOU CAN RUN REALLY WELL HERE? “No. The top-10 guys at Michigan, you’ve got to say that six or eight of them are going to be in top-10 here, but there is a little bit of difference. There’s more vertical load here. It’s a little more aggressive race track where Michigan is a little more of a skid pad because of its size. But I believe this is the same car we ran at Michigan, and the set-ups are very close.”

HOW MUCH TESTING HAVE YOU BEEN DOING? “We’re doing as much as we can. It’s not just testing, but it’s figuring out if what you’re testing is applying at the races. You can’t test with the Goodyear tires, that makes it really tough. But we’re doing way more than what we were six months ago. It’s not just testing, it’s making sure you’re testing the right things, and it’s a big team effort. You know, I tell people, when it was obvious that we were pretty far behind when the car of tomorrow was introduced and we were pretty much lost, it was awesome to go to the Tuesday morning meetings and hear guys like Robbie Reiser raise their hand and say, ‘Listen, whatever I’ve got to do, whatever my team has to do.’ That’s the team mentality we’ve got going on right now, and that’s what’s making it work.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE BOUNDRIES OR RULES FOR TEAMMATES ON A RACE TRACK. LAST WEEK, YOU WERE IN A SITUATION TO HELP A TEAMMATE. “There aren’t very many race tracks where you can actually help your teammates like you can at Daytona or Talladega, so, I looked at that race, that last lap, as an opportunity. I had Greg [Biffle] behind me, I didn’t know Matt was behind him, but Jamie right there in front of me, tied with Kyle. That’s about the only time in racing, in that situation, where you can actually help your teammate, legitimately right then help him. It was neat to be able to do.

I watched the tape, and I had a run down the back straightaway and I maybe could’ve gotten by him, but it was really satisfying, nothing I’ve ever been able to experience before, to be able to help somebody that much for a win, so it was pretty cool.”

CAN THIS BE THE BEGINNING OF A STREAK FOR ROUSH, SIMILAR TO WHAT HENDRICK EXPERIENCED EARLIER THIS YEAR? “I don’t know if it can be the beginning of a streak; I hope it’s the beginning of us being competitive every week. I think to have a streak, I think you have to be really dominant. Up to this point I feel like the Hendrick cars have obviously been dominant, and if we can just match their effort right now and be on a level playing field with them for the chase, Jack said over and over, ‘If we compete during the chase and make sure those 10 races work, it’ll be an awesome season.’”

JIMMIE JOHNSON SAID HE WASN’T SURPRISED THAT ROUSH FENWAY HAS WON A COUPLE OF TIMES IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS, BUT THAT HE WAS SURPRISED THAT THE ORGANIZATION WAS STRUGGLING BEFORE THAT. “That was nice of Jimmie to say. I was surprised – I’m very new to this. In 2005 I felt like I was the weakest link. I felt like my car could win every week, and I made mistakes, and I screwed things up, and now I feel I’m twice as good a driver as I was and I feel like I can do things a lot better, and we’re winning half as much. It’s amazing how quickly things can turn. You’re just competing against a group people – if one person has something better, it makes it a lot easier for that person.”

WHAT GRADE WOULD YOU GIVE TO YOUR TEAM RIGHT NOW? “I would say as far as our team’s performance, we’re a little bit better than I thought we would be. That’s pretty awesome. Overall, the way the season is shaking out, we’re a little bit behind on our cars, but that’s coming around. We’ve had a couple of little miscues on pit road, and things like that, so I’d give us a B- right now. We’re doing pretty well, but we can still do better. If we get over that little bit of a hump and perform just a tick better, we’re going to be real hard to beat.”

WHAT DOES THE ROUSH FENWAY COMBACK MEAN FOR FORD? IS IT A MORALE BOOST? “It is huge for Ford. We went to Ford Motor Company during the Michigan weekend, and visited with Edsel Ford and a lot of the associates that work there. Right now it’s a tough time in the domestic automakers’ backyard there, and it’s good to be able to get some wins for Ford Motor Company. I feel like they’ve done a lot for me. I believe in their products and the people that are behind them. And, it’s pretty cool. Edsel Ford stuck around for Victory Lane at Michigan. It was a big deal.”

DID YOU VISIT WITH THEM BEFORE THE RACE? “Before the race, yeah.”

EARLIER IN THE YEAR, THE 17 CAR CONSISTENTLY RAN NEAR THE FRONT WHILE THE OTHER FOUR TEAMS IN THE ORGANIZATION WERE TRYING TO GET SETTLED. CAN YOU SPEAK TO THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ALL FIVE ROUSH FENWAY TEAMS FINISHING IN THE TOP 12 LAST WEEKEND? “That was obviously a really big week for us – to have all five teams there, finishing up front. You talked about Matt Kenseth; I feel like they’re the strongest team at Roush Fenway, they have the most depth, and we look to them to help us a lot. And I think that Robbie Reiser offering everything he can, raising his hand in the meeting, and saying, ‘Whatever I can do, whatever our team can do to help,’ that’s made all of us stronger, and I’m really happy about that.”

AND, WITH ALL FIVE TEAMS RUNNING SO WELL… “It’s getting better. That was really a banner weekend. I could see the satisfaction in Jack’s eyes after the race. That’s cool. That’s the type of reward you can get when you work really hard. We just have to keep working that hard.”