Conversation: J. McMurray

Kasey Kahne may be able to pull a rabbit from his helmet in the popular Nextel commercial, but it's his co-star Jamie McMurray who is performing magic this season.

Since the April Cup race in Martinsville, the driver of the No. 26 Ford has maintained a close striking distance of the Chase and climbed as high as seventh in the points after the Talladega race.

According to McMurray, more structure in his life and a new crew chief has garnered the driver five top-10 finishes so far this season -- a performance worthy of an Oscar over McMurray's last season.

So what's up with the spiky-haired superstar?

To find out, I caught up with McMurray back stage just before the taping of a celebrity cooking show where he was the sous-chef.

Q: OK so the chef (Fred Bohn of Dover Downs is Cooking) rated you 5 on a 10-point scale in the kitchen. What gives?

McMurray: I guess if he were to drive a car I'd have to rate him a 5 out 10 too. But no, I don't claim to be a good cook. It's hard, but if they let you have an open range with butter and ranch dressing than anyone could cook. Whenever you try to make something healthy, it's hard to make it taste good. I do watch the Food Network a lot and am trying to eat healthier, a lot of organic foods. The rule of thumb is: If it tastes good, it's probably not good for you. Now Sushi, that's on my diet. I'm always a fan of the rolls. I like tuna and salmon. I like the hell out of it.

Q: Speaking of things that are bad for you, tell us about your signature drink.

McMurray: Yeah the Crown Royal slushy! We made those last year on Memorial Day. I had a party on Memorial Day, everyone came over: Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch. I bet we made about two and a half gallons. We probably used just about two and half gallons of Crown Royal too. Those are the tastiest things in the entire world. I learned how to make them on this cooking show last year and acted like it was my own recipe.

Q: Several reality TV shows have popped up in NASCAR in the last few years and you're staring in the most recent installment debuting this month on ABC, Fast Cars & Superstars - Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race.

Is there more acting in your future?

McMurray: I don't think so. Nextel was pretty gracious in letting Kasey and I just be ourselves when we shot the commercial. If you had to try and act like someone else it's hard. A lot of times they want you to act a certain way, but part of the reason why the commercial was so funny is because they let us be ourselves. That made it easy.

Now the reality show, I really don't know how that's going to turn out. I haven't seen it yet. I think it will be interesting for the fans. It's a different reality show ... they haven't really done anything like this. Sometimes what you see or what you film, you don't understand everything else that's going on, so you don't know what it's going to be. I only know my little part. (Continued)