Catchfence

Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates

McMurray at Texas: McMurray will be making his 15th start at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) where he has three top-five and six top-10 finishes (42.9%). McMurray’s best start at the track came in November of 2008 when he started fourth. He went on to finish third in that event; his best career finish at Texas came in the spring of 2005 race.

Last Weekend: Martinsville Speedway was a weekend of firsts for Jamie McMurray and the No.1 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team; First pole at Martinsville Speedway, first top-10 finish of the 2011 season and first race with car sponsor WIDIA.  After winning the pole position for the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 on Saturday afternoon, McMurray brought the field to the green flag and led the opening 31 laps of the event and brought home a respectable seventh-place finish.

Biggest Mover: McMurray made the biggest gain in the point standings moving up five spots in the standings.  He now sits 23^rd in points, 84 out of first.

By the Numbers: In 144 starts on intermediate tracks (1-2 miles), McMurray has compiled three poles,  20 top-fives, 45 top-10s, two wins, and an average finish of 18.6. He scored his first career victory on an intermediate track at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October 2002, sister track to Texas Motor Speedway.

Qualifying History: Earnhardt Ganassi Racing has won the pole in back-to-back races for the first time in their 11 year history. Montoya qualified on the pole in Fontana and McMurray followed that up with a pole in Martinsville.

McMurray Making an Appearance: Jamie McMurray will be signing autographs at the Grapevine, TX Bass Pro Shops store at 7:30 p.m. (CT) on Thursday April 7. The store is located at 2501 Bass Pro Drive Grapevine, TX 76051 and can be reached at (909) 922-5500.

Juan Pablo Montoya and No. 42 Target Team

MEDIA ALERT:  Juan Pablo Montoya will be available in the media center for a brief media Q&A session on Thursday, April 7 at 3:30 p.m. (CT).

Texas NSCS History: Montoya will be making his ninth NSCS start at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend.  Montoya’s best start of third came in fall of 2007 and a best finish of seventh was in the spring of 2009. He has an average starting position of 14.6 and an average finishing position of 25.1 at the mile-and-a-half facility.

Last Weekend: The Target team garnered another top-10 finish over the weekend at Martinsville Speedway. Juan Pablo Montoya started from the 27^th position, avoided all the on-track melee and was able to bring the No. 42 Target Chevrolet home in the fourth position. Montoya advanced a total of 23 spots during the race and was awarded the O’Reilly Auto Parts Position Improvement Award for the performance.

Moving On Up: The strong performance last weekend advanced Montoya one position in the point standings to seventh, just 18 out of first. This is the highest Montoya has been ranked in his career after six races into a season.

Blow Out the Candles! Crew chief Brian Pattie will be celebrating his birthday at the race track this weekend. Brian will turn 36 on Saturday.

Notable Items: After six races in the 2011 season, Montoya has an average starting position of 20.3, an average finishing position of 11, has one pole, two top-five and four top-10 finishes. He is ranked first as the driver to advance the most positions in the last 10 percent of each race, has a driver rating of 89.1 and is ranked ninth. The Target team heads into Texas Motor Speedway seventh in the point standings, 18 points out of first.

Giving Back: Since 1946, Target has given five percent of the company’s income to charity and millions of volunteer hours. Today, that five percent translates into more than $3 million every week to support education, the arts, social services and volunteerism.

CHASSIS INFO

No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet (NSCS): Chassis #1102.  Kevin “Bono” Manion will bring chassis #1102.  This chassis was raced earlier this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where the team qualified 11^th and finished 27^th.

No. 42 Target Chevrolet (NSCS): Chassis #1105. Brian Pattie and the No. 42 team will bring chassis #1105 this weekend. This chassis was also raced earlier this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where the team finished third.

2011 STATS

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

CAREER STATS

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

TEAM ROSTERS

Tony Glover – Team Manager

Steve Hmiel – Director of Competition

- Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Press Release