Jamie McMurray crosses the finish line to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Amp Energy 500 at Talladega. (Photo: Getty Images)

Now, a lot of the problems appear to be solved as McMurray and current crew chief Donnie Wingo appear to be in sync and McMurray and Roush have become, well, good friends.

“He’s learned to push the right button, I guess, when he comes up to my car before the race and what to say to me,” McMurray said late Sunday afternoon.

And just in time to say good-bye.

“I guess we’re going to have to part our ways at the end of the year here based on going from five teams to four,” Roush said Sunday. “That’s a great sadness, but I hope that we can win another race with Jamie, and certainly am happy for this one.”

McMurray said he will miss being with the team which has become synonymous with big horsepower and reliability.

“You know,” McMurray, a native of Joplin, Mo., said, “I’ll miss not getting to drive one of these cars. Certainly Jack’s team can put just incredible equipment on the track, and this year hasn’t been as good as what it’s been in the past. But whether it’s the engine shop or the engineering department or the chassis shop, he has an incredible race team.

“But you never know, you know, you might end up driving for Jack one day again. So I’m not going to make him mad in this meeting we’re having here.”

Rumors are hot that McMurray may be headed back to Ganassi, who now is co-owner of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.

McMurray said, yes, he has heard those rumors but no, he is not ready to confirm. He was actually quite coy about it all on Sunday afternoon.

“I think that everybody knows what rides there are out there,” he said. “You know, certainly if a sponsor were to call me, that would make it a lot easier with the amount of teams that are shutting down. There are not a lot of options out there, so I think everyone knows the cars that are available right now. For me, I just hope that we can get it, you know, signed and announce it whenever they want to so that it will make it a little bit easier to sleep at night.”

Whoever he signs with and whenever the deal is announced, McMurray was probably able to squeeze a few more dollars out of his new boss after what happened at Talladega last Sunday.

But he will leave wishing he could have squeeze a few more victories out of his Roush Fenway ride.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

Jim Pedleyis a veteran, award-winning sports journalist who has worked at, among other places, the Boston Globe, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Kansas City Star. Pedley spent more than 10 years covering auto racing for the Kansas City Star. Pedley can be reached at jpedley@racintoday.com

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