Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Jamie McMurray to arrive in town Thursday

NASCAR News reports Joplin native Jamie McMurray, who lost his childhood home during the May 22 tornado, will be in Joplin Thursday:

"I probably had some friends ask [me] about coming -- but I wanted to go there," McMurray said. "It's really hard for me to explain. This doesn't happen to very many people. There's something special about your hometown. It's just hard to explain.


"I wanted to go there on my own and just see everything. I've been glued to the TV for the last six days [prior to last Sunday] just watching everything and trying to remember what things looked like before. So, I want to go there and see it for myself."

He'll take the opportunity on his way to this weekend's event at Kansas Speedway, in conjunction with an event at Bass Pro Shops, his car's primary sponsor, about 70 miles away from Joplin in Springfield, Mo.

McMurray's last visit to Joplin was "four or five years ago." He left the town at age 20 as his racing career developed and he's been joined in North Carolina by the remainder of his family that formerly lived in the community of about 50,000 people in southwest Missouri.

"I do have a lot of friends still there," McMurray said. "But like most of us, I probably haven't stayed as close to friends of my hometown as I would have liked to have."

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