Roush Fenway Racing's Jamie McMurray knows anything can happen at Talladega
Roush Fenway Racing's Jamie McMurray has three top-five finishes in 14 starts at Talladega Superspeedway.
// David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
Roush Fenway Racing's Jamie McMurray understands just how treacherous competing at Talladega Superspeedway can be.
Just six laps into this year's spring race at the 2.66-mile track, McMurray was involved in a 15-car pileup, and his day was over.
"Things happen in the blink of an eye, and it’s so easy to get caught up in a wreck," McMurray said. "We had a great car for the race at Talladega earlier this season, but unfortunately we got wrecked out too early."
But McMurray heads into Sunday's Amp Energy 500 at the track with the momentum of a season-best finish of sixth in last Sunday's race at Martinsville Speedway, and he’s optimistic as he moves from NASCAR’s shortest track to its longest oval. Even though he has never won a NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Talladega, he does have three top-five and four top-10 finishes in 14 starts.
“Going to Talladega is always a race that I feel I can win each time we go there," said McMurray, who has one restrictor-plate victory to his credit (the 2007 Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway). "I always look forward to drafting, so we’ll just have to see how it all works out for us this weekend. Our restrictor-plate program at Roush Fenway has always been strong, and I expect the same this weekend at Talladega.”
McMurray's crew chief Donnie Wingo believes to key to success at the restrictor-plate track is all about one thing and one thing only: speed.
"Talladega is all about having the speed to stay up front and also having a car that sucks up well when it’s in the draft," Wingo said. "Handling isn’t as much of a focus at Talladega as it is at other tracks because the track is so wide that you have room to maneuver. We had a disappointing outing at Talladega earlier this year after we got caught up in a wreck early, so our goal is to stay out of trouble this time around.”
