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Eager student
Jamie McMurray will gladly learn at the heels of Mark Martin, who's ready to teach
BY NATE RYAN
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Nov 15, 2005
Being the elder statesman of a Nextel Cup team doesn't appeal to Jamie McMurray.
But that role would have been thrust upon the 29-year-old if he had remained at Chip Ganassi Racing another season.
With veteran Sterling Marlin leaving the team, the responsibilities of helping groom rookies David Stremme and Reed Sorenson in 2006 would have fallen on a driver whose experience in NASCAR's premier series consists of three seasons, 113 starts and only one victory.
In dreading the assignment, McMurray wasn't shirking his duties so much as admitting he didn't possess enough wisdom to lead.
"I still feel that I'm young enough that I need to learn from people that have been around for a long time," he said. "It was going to be tough to learn a lot from two guys that felt like they were going to be learning from me."
Instead, it's McMurray who will be receiving lessons next season from a stock car zen master with three decades of racing experience.
The negotiations that extricated McMurray from his Ganassi contract and moved him to Roush Racing a year early contained a pleasant twist: The man that McMurray was chosen to succeed now will become his mentor.
"I was supposed to go replace Mark Martin - someone that I looked up to forever," McMurray said while speaking openly about the move for the first time last weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. "I talked to him this week and I said, 'Man, I'm going to get to be your teammate now.' It's like a bonus."
When the signing by Roush was announced, McMurray was designated to inherit Martin's No. 6 Ford. But Kurt Busch's departure for Penske Racing resulted in an opening in the No. 97 for McMurray.
That forced Martin to delay a well-planned retirement from Cup in which he would scale back to the Craftsman Truck Series and spend more time with family. Now the 46-year-old will face the 36-race grind one more time.
The silver lining is the 35-time winner will be taking an eager pupil under his wing during the final ride.
"Things haven't worked out like I thought," Martin said. "I'm not going to be handing the 6 car to Jamie, and that's what I'd hoped.
"But the good thing is he's here now, and it is going to be fun to completely open up to Jamie and give him the insight on some things I wouldn't have been able to if I was going truck racing. I hope I can help him some. He would be fine without anyone's help."
McMurray has been on the brink of Cup stardom since winning at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Oct. 13, 2002 in only his second start. He was named rookie of the year in 2003. He missed the Chase for the Nextel Cup by 16 points in 2004 but closed the season as the circuit's hottest driver with 14 top-10s in the last 18 races.
He hasn't delivered on the promise this season as the three-year winless streak wore on him. But despite only 10 top-10s, McMurray still has a legitimate shot at making the Waldorf-Astoria stage as the 11th-place finisher for the second straight year.
Earning a ticket to the Dec. 2 awards ceremony in New York would give him a head-start on bonding with his new teammates, all of whom have won this year and reached the Chase. McMurray is looking forward to picking the brains of Martin, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth about why their Fords are so fast.
"The one thing about all the Roush drivers is that they're really into their chassis and everything it takes to make a car go fast, and I love that," said McMurray, who has leaned on Rusty Wallace for setup secrets while driving Wallace's Busch car. "That's one of the things I really get out of racing is learning what makes a car go faster."
Some of the advice Martin plans to offer will be more than mechanics.
"It'll be a slight change when Jamie climbs into that car every week," he said. "He'll be driving something he can contend to win in. It's going to be a new challenge and the opportunity of a lifetime for him, and he certainly deserves it."
Jamie McMurray will gladly learn at the heels of Mark Martin, who's ready to teach
BY NATE RYAN
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Nov 15, 2005
Being the elder statesman of a Nextel Cup team doesn't appeal to Jamie McMurray.
But that role would have been thrust upon the 29-year-old if he had remained at Chip Ganassi Racing another season.
With veteran Sterling Marlin leaving the team, the responsibilities of helping groom rookies David Stremme and Reed Sorenson in 2006 would have fallen on a driver whose experience in NASCAR's premier series consists of three seasons, 113 starts and only one victory.
In dreading the assignment, McMurray wasn't shirking his duties so much as admitting he didn't possess enough wisdom to lead.
"I still feel that I'm young enough that I need to learn from people that have been around for a long time," he said. "It was going to be tough to learn a lot from two guys that felt like they were going to be learning from me."
Instead, it's McMurray who will be receiving lessons next season from a stock car zen master with three decades of racing experience.
The negotiations that extricated McMurray from his Ganassi contract and moved him to Roush Racing a year early contained a pleasant twist: The man that McMurray was chosen to succeed now will become his mentor.
"I was supposed to go replace Mark Martin - someone that I looked up to forever," McMurray said while speaking openly about the move for the first time last weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. "I talked to him this week and I said, 'Man, I'm going to get to be your teammate now.' It's like a bonus."
When the signing by Roush was announced, McMurray was designated to inherit Martin's No. 6 Ford. But Kurt Busch's departure for Penske Racing resulted in an opening in the No. 97 for McMurray.
That forced Martin to delay a well-planned retirement from Cup in which he would scale back to the Craftsman Truck Series and spend more time with family. Now the 46-year-old will face the 36-race grind one more time.
The silver lining is the 35-time winner will be taking an eager pupil under his wing during the final ride.
"Things haven't worked out like I thought," Martin said. "I'm not going to be handing the 6 car to Jamie, and that's what I'd hoped.
"But the good thing is he's here now, and it is going to be fun to completely open up to Jamie and give him the insight on some things I wouldn't have been able to if I was going truck racing. I hope I can help him some. He would be fine without anyone's help."
McMurray has been on the brink of Cup stardom since winning at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Oct. 13, 2002 in only his second start. He was named rookie of the year in 2003. He missed the Chase for the Nextel Cup by 16 points in 2004 but closed the season as the circuit's hottest driver with 14 top-10s in the last 18 races.
He hasn't delivered on the promise this season as the three-year winless streak wore on him. But despite only 10 top-10s, McMurray still has a legitimate shot at making the Waldorf-Astoria stage as the 11th-place finisher for the second straight year.
Earning a ticket to the Dec. 2 awards ceremony in New York would give him a head-start on bonding with his new teammates, all of whom have won this year and reached the Chase. McMurray is looking forward to picking the brains of Martin, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth about why their Fords are so fast.
"The one thing about all the Roush drivers is that they're really into their chassis and everything it takes to make a car go fast, and I love that," said McMurray, who has leaned on Rusty Wallace for setup secrets while driving Wallace's Busch car. "That's one of the things I really get out of racing is learning what makes a car go faster."
Some of the advice Martin plans to offer will be more than mechanics.
"It'll be a slight change when Jamie climbs into that car every week," he said. "He'll be driving something he can contend to win in. It's going to be a new challenge and the opportunity of a lifetime for him, and he certainly deserves it."
---next year---just like I have since I saw him driving ASA cars.
