DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Jamie McMurray was in the midst of the hottest 2008 season-closing streak this side of teammate Carl Edwards' finish and all McMurray could think about was 2009.

“

I think for sure it's a make-or-break season for me, but, like I say, if I had to pick a scenario to be put in, I'm in one that's as good as it can get for me.

”

JAMIE McMURRAY

Far from being strange, all you could think was, "who could blame him," because McMurray was looking ahead to a reunion with his favorite NASCAR crew chief -- Donnie Wingo. As far as he was concerned he was getting a carbon copy of the guy who'd engineered his stellar late-season run, crew chief Larry Carter.

"Donnie just has a really good work ethic, and certainly you have to have that at Roush," McMurray said as he begins his fourth season at Roush Fenway Racing. "Roush has been known for having his model and it's not having as many people as other organizations. But Donnie is just very hands-on and his work ethic is second to none. So I think the guys, if they liked Larry, they're going to like Donnie because they're two of the same."

Carter and Wingo -- longtime friends who worked together when Wingo worked for a team owned by Carter's uncle, Travis Carter -- actually discussed their futures before Wingo initiated the process of coming to Roush Fenway.

Now the new season is only one race old, Saturday night's 75-lap Budweiser Shootout special event. But if Carter and Wingo are alter-egos and McMurray ended last season with three consecutive third-places and on the verge of winning, Saturday night's second-place finish to Kevin Harvick means a win could be close.

Wingo and McMurray worked together for three years at Chip Ganassi Racing, from McMurray's rookie season in 2003 to 2006, and accrued 18 top-five and 46 top-10 finishes, averages of six and 15 a season. In his three seasons with Roush, McMurray's averaged three and nine, respectively, so the reunion's timing couldn't be better.

"Without a doubt this is a make-or-break year for me, but you can only do what you can," McMurray said. "I think for sure it's a make-or-break season for me, but, like I say, if I had to pick a scenario to be put in, I'm in one that's as good as it can get for me. I have everything I want and I think the comfort level and the confidence I have in Donnie and the entire team, I wouldn't trade them for anyone."

Pole qualifying on Sunday put McMurray 26th on the sheet, but he said that was "irrelevant because where you start is based on how you race on Thursday in the Gatorade Duel, so we'll see." That's where their performance Saturday night comes back to the fore.

"It's been good, and it's been good all week. The car was good in practice and everything's just kinda clicked," Wingo said through a big grin immediately after the Shootout. "This is a good race team and I feel very fortunate to be a part of it. Everybody's pulled together and built good race cars -- we [Roush Fenway teams] all had good cars [Saturday] night."

Budweiser Shootout

Results

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet
2.	Jamie McMurray	Ford
3.	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet
4.	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet
5.	A.J. Allmendinger	Dodge
6.	Kasey Kahne	Dodge
7.	Carl Edwards	Ford
8.	Matt Kenseth	Ford
9.	Kurt Busch	Dodge
10.	Kyle Busch	Toyota

• Results | Videos | Gallery

The Shootout was McMurray and Wingo's first race together in more than three years, and they came within half of a lap and tenths of a second of winning.

"We had a pretty effective piece," Wingo said. "In the first practice [Friday] night we were a little off, but in the second practice we made a couple changes and the car really came to life. We made one little adjustment [Saturday] night on the last stop but other than that it was good all night and he never complained about it pushing like you always get here after a long run -- we just came up a little short."

It's got McMurray on the proverbial Cloud Nine, particularly since his reunion also includes his spotter while he was at Ganassi's, Lorin Ranier.

"To get to have both of them back at the same time, it's very comforting; it's really hard for me to explain to you the comfort or the confidence I have in those two guys," McMurray said. "I feel like when we ran at Ganassi we ran really well and I didn't think we had near as good of equipment as what we do right now at Roush Fenway."

But the bottom line is the framework that Carter built last season at the No. 26 car -- before swapping over to Roush Fenway ally Yates Racing to work with Paul Menard -- may end up anchoring a breakout career year for McMurray, which would coincide for Wingo.

"I just have a lot of good memories with Donnie," McMurray said. "With people, you either remember the good or the bad and I had so many good times with him and I've remained good friends with him. We live in the same neighborhood, less than a mile from each other. In the three or four years I [was] away from Donnie we remained really good friends and I think that's really important."

Back in the fall of 2008, Roush Fenway general manager Robbie Reiser came to McMurray and said the organization was thinking of transferring Carter to Yates and asked what did McMurray think?

"When they first talked about it, I considered it a promotion for Larry, but I said 'No, I didn't want to go through it again because I've been through it three or four times at Roush and I'm happy right now. But then they told me that Donnie was gonna be my guy.

"It was tough because when I was with Ganassi, Donnie was the only crew chief I'd ever had in Cup and we consistently ran sixth to 11th or 12th every week and I can remember going home from races after running sixth and saying 'I'm sick of running sixth, I want to be able to win.' I remember thinking I needed a crew chief with an engineering background to be able to do better. I got that with Bob Osborne and that wasn't for me because our personalities clashed. But Donnie and I are such good friends and I think he's very underrated. He doesn't have an engineering degree, but he's incredibly intelligent, super-good with the data and I just think that he'll make a wonderful fit at Roush.

"It's important that Derek Stamets, our engineer, has stayed and that's going to help out Donnie. We didn't break the whole team up and Derek will really be the guy, along with the other engineers at Roush, that will really be able to get Donnie zeroed in quickly."

So far, that's the case for both men, and since Stamets worked a couple years at Ganassi with Wingo, that's another plus.

Wingo

"It's not like you've got a big hurdle to get over because Jamie and I stayed good friends, we always talked," Wingo said. "I know what he likes and what he don't like and that's something else you don't have to go through, but the biggest thing for me is just learning the processes and the way they do things [at Roush Fenway]. I like working at a place where they really strive to win and the drivers here help push the other drivers."

If, as McMurray said, Carter and Wingo are so much alike, it may not be long before McMurray and his reunited buddy are in Victory Lane.

"I think that Jamie was struggling with this [new] car -- I never wavered in my confidence that Jamie was gonna figure this stuff out and start running well," Carter said. "I always felt like Jamie was gonna do what he's been doing. I felt like it was there and that our cars were good because we had teammates that were out there running well."

Wingo seconded that and said he sees little difference in the McMurray he worked with at Ganassi and the driver he has now.

"The biggest thing that impressed me when I first started working with him was his ability to race," Wingo said. "We weren't always the best qualifiers, but when we got in the race, you could always seem to get the car better and always seem to have good runs and good finishes. But at the end of last year he was qualifying better so maybe if we get the cars right, he can qualify.

"I don't want to look stupid and come in here and say 'I don't want to do it like this.' I came in here saying, 'You continue to do what you're doing and hopefully we can continue to make that better,' because the way they ended the year, what would you do any different?

Carter said getting the proper chemistry between all the teammates took time. That mix is in place now, even if Wingo's replaced him.

"It is difficult to leave," Carter said. "But at the same time, part of building that [26] team is seeing it come together and seeing it perform and I think that's what we're seeing."