Jamie McMurray finished eighth last week at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Credit: Autostock

10 Questions: McMurray

Jamie McMurray has seen plenty of ups and down so far this NASCAR season, with his most recent weekend at Lowe's Motor Speedway possibly being one of the most jarring.

McMurray got his bell rung Saturday evening when a deflated tire sent his No. 64 Dodge hurtling into the outside wall coming off Turn 4 during the Carquest 300 Busch race.

	Credit: Autostock
	Inside the Numbers Jamie McMurray's Nextel Cup career Starts 126 Wins 1 Top-5s 20 Top-10s 52 Poles 2 Avg. Start 18.4 Avg. Finish 16.7 Earnings $14,976,520

But he bounced back to score his fourth top-10 finish of the season in his No. 26 Ford in Sunday evening's Coca-Cola 600; getting ready for a single-duty trip this weekend to Dover International Speedway.

McMurray took a break recently to answer 10 questions not necessarily connected to his racing career.

1. What's your least favorite household chore?

McMurray: I don't really do anything at my house [because] I'm not home very often and I have a lady that actually cleans it.

But if I had to do something, I'd say folding laundry would be it. She does the laundry, too -- but I don't have very much laundry, anyway. It's just the racing stuff.

2. You may not consider the racing "grind" a grind, but what's your ideal break from racing?

McMurray: Probably something like starting a household project. I don't do real well with just vacationing. If I'm on a vacation I want to do something while I'm there.

So I think it would be something like starting a project around the house -- or maybe playing golf. It would be something that's an activity -- not just laying around.

3. Do you own more than one vehicle, and if you do, what do you drive the most?

McMurray: An SUV is probably what I drive the most -- a Ford Expedition. I have a Ford Explorer, too. It's a little different and I like it, too.

But I don't usually get to drive it -- my motorhome driver does.

4. What is one thing that your fans don't know about you, that you'd like to tell them?

McMurray: Maybe it would be that I seem like I'm outgoing and everything, but that I'm actually kind of shy around groups of people.

It's like I would rather hide in the corner than be the center of attention. I'm pretty content to be that way, so no; I'm not working to get over that in any way.

5. Which show is "must see TV" for you?

McMurray: American Idol and any CSI. I definitely didn't like the way the voting off process went [because] Chris Daughtry was kind of my pick. Then, I liked the girl who finished second.

I don't know if she was the best singer, but I thought she was kind of hot.

I actually did get to meet last year's group of Idol contestants, when Coke brought them to the second Charlotte race -- so I got to meet them all, except for the final two.

It was odd, and I guess you know how race fans feel, because you'd watched those people for 10 or 12 weeks and you feel like you kind of know them. So it was interesting to meet them, and it would be this year.

6. What's your biggest guilty pleasure?

McMurray: Probably not working out. It's one thing I wish I did every day that I don't do.

My Roush Racing teammate, Carl Edwards, sets such a high standard for any racecar driver, but I feel like when you test two or three days a week and then you race every week -- I always feel like I just caught a workout.

So I usually work out pretty hard in the winter, when you have a lot of time. I just don't know. It seems I have an abundance of time, at times, but I'm really big on a routine -- and if I can't do it every day at the same time, I don't do very well with staying at it.

7. What were your first job, and your most vivid memory of it?

McMurray: My first job was working at a racecar shop when I was about 14 -- but my first real paying job was as a bag boy at a grocery store.

The biggest memory of that was getting punched, one time, in the store's parking lot by the snack bar girl's brother, or something. It was a misunderstanding.

I guess I looked like another guy that worked there, and I walked out, like at midnight to go home and the guy jumped me and knocked the hell out of me. She came running out and said, "wrong guy -- you got the wrong guy."

He was big -- but it doesn't take much to be big, compared to me.

8. If you could go back in time, what period in history would you like to live in, and why?

McMurray: You know, I'm pretty content right here. But if I went back in time, I'd go back to maybe, like 1995, take everything I know in racing now and look like a smart guy.

9. Which star or celebrity would you most like to hang out with?

McMurray: Maybe John Travolta or Tom Hanks -- an actor. It seems that they're the best at what they do and for me it's fun to meet anyone who is really good at their job.

I don't know. You don't really know those people, so it's hard to say why you'd want to hang out with them, if you don't know anything about them. But they just seem like someone who would be cool to go eat dinner with and hang with.

10. What have you learned about yourself in the last year?

McMurray: Probably that racing is still fun to me -- but that it's become more serious to do well at it. So it's probably a lot more stressful now than it ever has been.

To relieve that, I just have to run well. It seems like when you run well, your weekends are definitely easier and a lot more fun and there's a lot more joking around.

For me, I used to be able to have that same attitude when I didn't do well, because then it would seem like you were always positive and optimistic for the next weekend. But right now it's been pretty stressful.