Carter welcomes back self, McMurray to Victory Lane

In early December of 2006, Jamie McMurray called Larry Carter and asked him to come to Roush Racing and be his crew chief.

"You want me to be your crew chief?" Carter asked.

"No, I really want Donnie Wingo but he's not available and I think you're the next best thing," is what Carter remembers McMurray saying.

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Now, Larry was flattered. Carter and Wingo are best friends.

"If somebody thinks I'm half the crew chief Donnie Wingo is then I'm happy. He taught me a lot about racing. Donnie and Travis [Carter, former crew chief and Larry's uncle] taught me just about everything I know."

"Jamie wanted to work with me. I wanted to work with him. What better situation could you ask for?"

Eighteen races later McMurray, with the ever-subdued Larry Carter, was back in Victory Lane, celebrating his second career win. (read more)

On Tuesday morning I called now Roush Fenway Racing and asked to talk to Larry Carter. I was politely told that he was in a meeting but I could leave a message on his voicemail. That was fine with me. I never want to bother a crew chief when he is in a meeting. When his office phone rang the voice on the other end said, "Hello?"

"Larry?" I inquired.

"Yes," he replied

"You're supposed to be in a meeting," I said.

"I just got out. What can I do for you?" he asked.

He was just as polite as anyone could possibly be. And why not? On Saturday night his driver won the Pepsi 400 at Daytona. Only thing is, Larry Carter is always that nice; but he never seems to get excited. He was as calm as could be after the win, already thinking about the next race and the next challenge.

"I think that people who know me, know I like to have fun, like to have a good time," Carter said.

"I'm not the best at ... I would rather send somebody else to get the trophy. Sometimes it is just overwhelming, people telling you that you did a good job. Well, Jamie did a good job, and so did all the guys. It's a little strange. I don't feel like I did it. They did it. And that's fine. I like to run the team in a diplomatic fashion, not a dictatorship."

Carter's first day at Roush was Jan. 1, 2007. His agreement with Michael Waltrip Racing expired on Dec. 31. So on Jan. 1, he was at the shop.

"I think three people were there," Carter said.

"And that's OK, it was a holiday. But it was the first day I could legally go in the shop, the first day I could put my hand on the cars that Jamie would be driving. We were behind, in fact, I think we're still a little bit behind. We've never really caught up."

But Saturday night they were out in front, at least at the finish line, by a whopping five one-thousandths of a second. (watch video) (Continued)