A 2D texture is positioned directly onto a NURBS surface's UV space. If it the texture appears warped the first time you apply the texture, you may need to edit the surface direction, fix uneven UV values (fix texture warp), or even rebuild the surface. See Texture Map.
Convert to File Texture (Maya Software) does not support Fix Texture Warp if the surface uses Fix Texture Warp, it is ignored when converting the material.