(By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service)
Posted: Saturday,October 30th, 2010
TALLADEGA, Ala.—Jamie McMurray’s first message was to Dale Earnhardt Jr.—when the driver of the No. 1 Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet learned he would be driving a Dale Earnhardt Sr. tribute paint scheme in Sunday’s Amp Energy Juice 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
The black-and-gold No. 1 Chevy bears a striking resemblance to the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Earnhardt Sr. ran in the 1998 all-star race. Johnny Morris, founder and CEO of Bass Pro shops—McMurray’s primary sponsor—gave his blessing, but McMurray wanted Earnhardt Jr.’s approval, too.
Jamie McMurray, driver of the #1 McDonald
The car, a tribute to Earnhardt Sr.’s induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s inaugural class, was unveiled at Charlotte in May, but it will make its only appearance on the track this weekend at Talladega.
“I actually sent Dale Jr. a text when I found out we were going to do this and just told him it was an honor to get to drive the same paint scheme his dad had driven and to kind of let him know,” said McMurray, who began driving selected races for Earnhardt’s JR Motorsports Nationwide team in April. “I didn’t know if anybody had told him, and I thought that it was important for him to know.”
Earnhardt’s reply to the text was predictable.
“He just told me he thought it was cool—just a normal Junior reaction,” McMurray said.
McMurray grew up with an acute awareness of who Earnhardt Sr. was, because of his father, Jim McMurray.
“I was a big Dale Earnhardt fan,” Jim McMurray said. “Earnhardt was at the top of his game, and I just loved to watch him. Anybody that watched Dale Earnhardt that didn’t get excited needs to find something else to do.
“I really don’t think Jamie has any idea when he pulls out for his first lap of practice what it’s going to be like, or when he pulls out for the first lap of the race. Everybody’s going to cheer. Imagine what it’ll be like if he gets to take the lead in the Earnhardt car.”
Earnhardt Sr. won the final race of his Sprint Cup career in the fall race at Talladega in 2000. On Feb. 18, 2001, he died as the result of a last-lap crash in the Daytona 500.
This year’s race also has special significance for McMurray, who won for the final time in a Roush Fenway Racing Ford in last season’s Chase race at the 2.66-mile superspeedway. At the time, McMurray was in the last year of his contract with Roush and uncertain where he would drive in 2011, though negotiations with Earnhardt Ganassi were well under way.
“I don’t think that me winning at Talladega last year was the deciding factor of whether I got in this car, but I know that it certainly didn’t hurt,” said McMurray, who won the Daytona 500, the Brickyard 400 and Bank of America 500 at Charlotte this year. “Certainly, winning last year, that was huge for me.”
McMurray appreciates the history he’ll carry on his car this weekend.
“One of the cool things about NASCAR, or sports in general, when you get to do something that has some history behind it,” McMurray said. “The older I get, the more I appreciate the history of our sport, but it’s really important for Johnny Morris and Bass Pro Shops.
“They thought this was really special to pay tribute to Dale with this paint scheme that they ran in the All-Star race. I know that when fans see this car, they’ll remember this paint scheme.”
It would be doubly special if McMurray could get some help from Earnhardt Jr. in Sunday’s race.
“It would be really cool if I could get Dale Jr. to push me to the lead one time,” he said.
McMurray, however, hasn’t communicated that to Earnhardt.
“No,” McMurray said, “but I have a feeling that, at some point in the race, we’ll be together.”
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