NASCAR Cup

Darlington: Jamie McMurray preview

Texaco/Havoline Racing Fast Facts: * Championship Standings: Jamie McMurray and the Texaco/Havoline team jumped into the top 10 for The Chase for the NEXTEL Cup after last weekend's fifth-place finish at Talladega. McMurray is 10th in ...

Published: May 4, 2005, 8:25 PM

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Texaco/Havoline Racing Fast Facts:

* Championship Standings: Jamie McMurray and the Texaco/Havoline team jumped into the top 10 for The Chase for the NEXTEL Cup after last weekend's fifth-place finish at Talladega. McMurray is 10th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup standings, just 301 points out of the top spot.

* Darlington Facts: In four Cup starts at Darlington Raceway, McMurray has led a total of 76 laps out of 1,317 laps run. McMurray has also had two top-five finishes and his highest qualifying effort is 11th.

* Chassis: Crew Chief Donnie Wingo and the Texaco/Havoline team will bring chassis #403 to Darlington Raceway this weekend. This is one of the more popular chassis in the No. 42 stable as it has run four times already this season at Texas, Atlanta, Las Vegas and Fontana. In those four starts in chassis #403, McMurray has finished second, 11th, 15th and fourth respectively.

* Testing the Waters: McMurray and the Texaco/Havoline team are testing at Richmond International Raceway this week in preparation for the race next weekend.

* Double Duty: Jamie McMurray will be pulling double duty this weekend when he gets into the No. 64 Dodge on Friday night for the NASCAR Busch Series race. McMurray has had two top-five finishes in seven starts, including a win last year, in Busch Series races at Darlington Raceway.

* The Joplin, Mo., native finished 11th in points in the 2004 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series chase.

He posted nine top-five and 23 top-10 finishes, including 12 top-10 finishes in the last 14 events of the 2004 season.

Jamie McMurray Quote:

"I always look forward to racing at Darlington. It's definitely on my list of favorite places that we race. I like it because it always presents a challenge. Turns one and two are shaped differently than three and four, so you may get your car to handle in one set of turns, while you struggle in the other turns. You're always chasing the set up at Darlington. Also, the tires wear off pretty quick there, so you definitely have to use patience during the long green-flag runs that usually occur.

"This Texaco/Havoline team has always run well there. We've been in contention for the victory several times in the Cup races at Darlington, and I expect us to be running up front again this weekend. We're coming off a great finish in Talladega, and I feel like momentum is on our side. Hopefully that momentum will send the Texaco/Havoline Dodge to victory lane on Saturday night."

-cgr-

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