McMurray looking at team-building week in Daytona (cont'd)

Q: What's it been like for you to be back at Chip's team after being away for four years, racing at Roush Fenway Racing?

McMurray: There are a lot of new faces at EGR -- the management is different. But for the most part [it's the same]. They still build beautiful race cars, and honestly that's the one thing that I remember about being here before was the quality of workmanship.

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The good thing about a five-car team is that you get a lot of ideas and different directions to go. And the bad part about a five-car team is that you get a lot of ideas and different directions to go. I think it's very hard when you have five drivers to make them all drive alike and all want the same setup.

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-- JAMIE MCMURRAY

And they built me all brand new cars this year, to be like what Juan ended the season with. Not only do the cars look good, but obviously they run really well. And I know most of the guys that work there, whether they worked there before, or maybe I've worked with them in the past. I know most everyone that works at EGR and it's been very comforting to have those guys pat me on the back and say that they're glad to have me back.

It's a feeling you can't really explain to someone [but] it's just the confidence that it gives you when you have everyone behind you, and you feel like it's a sincere 'we're glad to have you back' rather than just a formality. So certainly all those guys in the shop and at the offices have been very welcoming and that's been a really good feeling.

Q: After spending the past four years at Roush Fenway, have you come in, looked around and maybe suggested there's something EGR might tweak or look at doing differently?

McMurray: I'll tell you what I've learned in moving to race teams. That's that everybody does stuff a little bit differently and just because they don't do it exactly the way that you are used to, does not mean that's right or wrong.

I think it's good to step back and offer your suggestions, but there's more than one way to skin a cat and sometimes you're just best to sit back and listen.

Q: You've raced karts at Daytona for the past couple years but this year it took another leap with fellow Cup driver A.J. Allmendinger, IndyCar champ Dan Wheldon and motorcycle champion Scott Russell being here. So what was that like?

McMurray: Kart racing probably prepares you better for [racing a sports car] than certainly what it does to do the Cup car, and a lot of the guys that are here racing the 24 hours actually are karters. So it's fun for me to get to see all those guys.

It was a lot of fun to get to race with those guys. I love karting and I'm very passionate about that. I enjoy karting about as much as anything in my life. It's not relaxing -- it's stressful because you want to win and you want to do well. But it also gives me something to do at home.

And it's nice to see those other guys come out. I know Dan Wheldon grew up karting and he's really big into that. He's a really good karter on top of everything [else]. And A.J. [Allmendinger] came down this year and he's been a karter forever.

So hopefully the guys will keep coming down. And from what the go-kart guys tell me, they love to have us come down and to get to race against us. And it's just a lot of fun.

Q: Who was the big winner though -- I know there were no losers, right?

McMurray: Wheldon actually won a class. The first day he wasn't very fast but the second day he really got his stuff put together and ran really well. He ran the best of any of us [professionals]. I ran second in one of the classes but it was a really good weekend.