CUP: A New Day At EGR? McMurray Hopes So

Sprint Cup

CUP: A New Day At EGR? McMurray Hopes So

Jamie McMurray believes major changes at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing will get the organization back on course...

Jared Turner | Posted January 14, 2012 Daytona Beach, FL

Jamie McMurray drives the No. 1 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet during preseason testing at Daytona International Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

A year ago, Jamie McMurray arrived for preseason Sprint Cup testing at Daytona on the heels of his best season ever.

And he was the defending race winner of the Daytona 500, too.

Roll the tape forward one year to Daytona Preseason Thunder 2012 and McMurray’s outlook couldn’t be more different.

For all that went right for McMurray in 2010, just as much went wrong in 2011.

Instead of entering 2012 with momentum, there are just questions.

After winning three races in 2010, including the Daytona 500, the Brickyard 400 and the fall Charlotte race, McMurray finished no better than fourth and posted a career-low four top 10s in 36 starts last season. He failed to make the Chase, finishing 27th in points.

But Earnhardt Ganassi Racing has taken steps aimed at getting McMurray’s No. 1 Chevrolet team – as well as teammate Juan Pablo Montoya’s – pointed in the right direction.

It remains to be seen, however, if the McMurray of 2012 will run more like the McMurray of 2010 or 2011.

“Chip has made a really big commitment,” McMurray said, referring to team owner Chip Ganassi. “I mean, they changed a lot of management. There's been a tremendous amount of changes to the 42 car (of Montoya). There's been quite a few changes to the 1 car. (We) hired a lot of new people from different organizations. You know, we hired John Probst (technical director) from Red Bull, and he's done a really good job, I feel like, with getting everything organized.

“The frustrating part is that we won races with the guys that were there before, won some really big races. But I think the morale in the shop got way down, and everyone, you know, you start criticizing everybody, and Chip needed to make a change to get everybody pumped back up.”

McMurray hopes the influx of new personnel will help generate a new culture within the company, similar to the one he found when he arrived at EGR ahead of the 2010 season.

“One thing that I remember about going over to EGR when I left Roush (Fenway Racing) was walking through the shop and everybody in there being proud of what they had built,” McMurray said. “And I remember walking through there and a guy grabbing a gas pedal and saying, ‘Look, I built this gas pedal, and it's eight grams lighter than we what we had last year.’ Every single person had that mindset in there of being proud of what they had built.

“We lost a little bit of that last year because we were changing our car so much; it was something different every week. I feel like guys are back in that same mindset of being proud of what they're producing.”

Since hiring Probst last September, EGR acquired regarded Hendrick Motorsports engineer Chris Heroy to replace Montoya interim crew chief Jim Pohlman. McMurray will return with crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion but will work with a new car chief and team engineer.

Competition director Steve Hmiel and team manager Tony Glover, both veterans of the NASCAR garage, are no longer with the organization. Replacing Glover is Max Jones, who was president and general manager at Richard Petty Motorsports before leaving RPM in fall 2010.

All the changes add up to a much-different looking organization, and give McMurray confidence for the upcoming season.

“I don't think you're going to see just immediate results because it's going to take a little time, and our speedway cars don't seem to be just where they need to be yet,” he said. “But from my perspective looking at it, it seems much more organized and everyone seems to be behind us.”

Jared Turner is an Associate Editor for SPEED.com, covering NASCAR and Formula One, and is an Editor for TruckSeries.com. His professional motorsports writing career began in 2005.

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