Jamie McMurray May Be Out, But Donnie Wingo Will Be Back At Roush Fenway In 2010

By Jared Turner
SceneDaily.com

FORT WORTH, Texas – Crew chief Donnie Wingo appears to be headed back to Roush Fenway Racing next season in a capacity still to be determined.
 
Wingo’s future with the organization has been uncertain since it was revealed in late July that driver Jamie McMurray’s No. 26 team would go away and sponsor Crown Royal would move to Roush driver Matt Kenseth’s team next year.

The breakup of McMurray’s team is part of a downsizing by Roush Fenway to conform to NASCAR’s new four-car limit set to take effect in 2010.
 
Wingo came on board as McMurray’s crew chief this season and the two celebrated their first win together in last Sunday’s Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
 
Asked on Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway if there would be a place for Wingo next season at Roush Fenway, team co-owner Jack Roush said, “The answer to that is yes.”
 
Wingo later backed up his boss’ assertion.
 
“I don’t think the plan is finalized for next year but we have spoken and he says he’s got a place for me there next year and I’m real happy about that,” he said. “It’s where I want to be right now and I hope I can end my career here. … I’m just looking forward to whatever they have for me in the future, whatever I can do to help.”
 
Wingo concedes that it hasn’t been easy knowing that McMurray’s team would no longer exist in its current capacity next season. The possibility of Roush Fenway moving the No. 26 team to affiliate Yates Racing also went away when it was announced in September that Yates would merge with Richard Petty Motorsports in 2010.
 
McMurray and Wingo previously worked together at Chip Ganassi Racing, beginning in McMurray’s rookie season of 2003. The two remained a tandem until McMurray left for Roush Fenway in 2006.

Wingo knew before the end of the 2005 campaign that McMurray would be leaving, so competing with the driver in a lame-duck role is nothing new for Wingo.
 
“It’s just one those deals that you try and develop that relationship being around one another and you can kind of read one another and there’s some weeks he’s had to pick me up and there’s some weeks I’ve had to pick him up,” Wingo said. “It’s one of those deals when you get that good, working relationship that you can kind of read what the other guy’s thinking or how the other guy feels about this week or whatever. And I think it’s just a deal to where you have to work together and you have to pick one another up as the season goes on.”
 
Last weekend’s win at Talladega – McMurray’s first of the season and second in 141 starts for Roush Fenway – was a boost for the entire organization, which hadn’t put a driver in victory lane since Kenseth opened the season with back-to-back victories.
 
Wingo believes more good days are on the horizon for the organization that placed two of its five drivers in this year’s Chase For The Sprint Cup.
 
“I think we’re back on the climb,” he said. “I think the way the 17 [of Kenseth] ran at Charlotte, we ran fairly well at Martinsville, got a decent finish out of it and then [with the win] at Talladega, I think we’re back on the upswing. I think here at Texas you’ll see several of our cars running up front this week.”
 
McMurray hasn’t publicly said where he’ll compete next season but is considered a candidate for the No. 1 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing entry being vacated by Martin Truex Jr. McMurray’s win was bittersweet for Wingo, knowing that a breakup is imminent.
 
“It’s good for everybody and think you think about what’s going to happen in the future and then you kind of look on the other side of it, but there’s always a bright side to it,” he said. “I mean, anytime you can win a race, it’s good for everybody, it’s momentum and it carries you into the next week.”
 
Wingo has been pleased with how the team has dealt with the distraction of what lies ahead.
 
“Most of these guys on this team, they’re experienced guys. They’ve been around the sport for a long time and they’ve been through it at one time or another,” he said. “It’s the type deal that they feel like their future’s in jeopardy, too, and if you kind of just sit back and mull around and don’t do what you need to do, then you’re not going to have a place and I think these guys understand that and that’s why they’ve continued to work really hard just like they did at the beginning of the year when we were starting out.”

Jared Turner is a staff writer at NASCAR Scene. For more racing news, visit SceneDaily.com.

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