Jamie McMurray, driver of the No. 26 Irwin Ford Fusion, was the fastest Ford in Saturday’s second practice session as he finished seventh on the speed chart. McMurray, who is battling a virus, spoke about the condition of his race car and his health after practice.
JAMIE MCMURRAY – No. 26 Irwin Ford Fusion – WHAT KIND OF PROGRESS HAVE YOU MADE SINCE YESTERDAY? “I think yesterday the baseline setup that we all started with was just way too tight. Typically, we unload so close that I think everyone was scared to divert from it too much. They thought maybe we could do it with small adjustments and we weren’t able to do that, so they regrouped last night and unloaded today and we were a lot closer in the first practice. By the second practice they made big improvements and it looks like all the Roush cars are pretty good now, but our car is really good.”
YOU HAVE AN EXTRA 27 MILES IN THIS RACE. HOW WILL IT BE STARTING FROM THE BACK? “The 27 miles will probably be useful, but if your car is good – even starting dead last – you should be able to get there by halfway in the race. The guys that have good cars will make it and the guys that don’t will wish they had another 100 miles to try to make it happen.”
YOU’RE NOT FEELING GOOD, SO WHAT WILL YOU DO BETWEEN NOW AND THE RACE TO TRY AND GET BETTER? “I’m gonna go to the infield care center again and see if I can get some different medicine. The medicine that I’ve got right now is not really working. I’ve been sick since Tuesday night or Wednesday morning and you think you’d be better by now and I’m not, so I’m gonna see if they’ll give me something else to help with my chest. My eyeballs are the biggest issue right now. There’s a lot of pressure on them and when the car loads up in the corner it really hurts my eyes.”
WILL FLUIDS BE PART OF THE PROGRAM AS WELL? “Yeah. It’s odd out here because it’s so dry out here anyway, you don’t realize how much fluids you need. I feel plenty hydrated, so I don’t think that’s an issue.”
