A year later, McMurray hopes to win again at Daytona
Not much has gone right for Jamie McMurray since winning at Daytona International Speedway last July. He’s had only five top-10 finishes in the 35 races since 2007’s Pepsi 400, but there’s something about being a defending champion of a race that can raise your spirits.
McMurray edged Kyle Busch by inches at Daytona last year in the final restrictor-plate race for NASCAR’s old Cup car. The win was the second of McMurray's career and snapped a six-year winless streak.
“This weekend I’m really looking forward to returning to Daytona,” McMurray said. “Obviously, it’s a great feeling to be the winner of last year’s race and knowing how much all the guys are looking forward to returning there.”
McMurray’s No. 26 Roush Fenway Racing Ford will sport a special Irwin Industrial Tools paint scheme in this weekend’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona, a scheme similar to the one used last year.
“It’s really cool looking car, and I would like nothing more than to return it to victory lane again this year,” McMurray said.
McMurray hasn’t been close to victory lane this year, with a best finish of eighth at Martinsville earlier this season. He was 18th at Infineon Raceway and 41st last weekend at New Hampshire after being in a crash with Dale Earnhardt Jr.
“We haven’t had the best of luck the last two races and have lost some spots in the points, but returning to Daytona this weekend as the defending champions is always a good feeling,” crew chief Larry Carter said. “Jamie is one of the best drafters in our series and has had a lot of success at the superspeedways. If we can stay out of trouble this weekend, it should be a great weekend.”
McMurray will have a new car for this weekend, a chassis and body design similar to one teammate David Ragan finished fourth with at Talladega, the other track on the schedule where restrictor plates are used, in April.
“They seemed to have a lot of success with it,” Carter said, “so we applied what they learned into our setup for this weekend’s race.”
