Jamie McMurray
James Christopher McMurray, nicknamed "Jamie Mac", is an American former professional stock car racing driver and currently an analyst for Fox NASCAR and NASCAR on The CW. He raced in the NASCAR Cup Series on a full-time basis from 2003 to 2018 before shifting to a Daytona 500-only schedule in 2019 and 2021.
McMurray earned his first win in just his second career start in October 2002. He is also known for winning the 2010 Daytona 500 for Chip Ganassi Racing, and is one of only three drivers to win both the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same year.
Racing career
Craftsman Truck and Busch Series (1999–2002)
In 1999, McMurray made five starts in the Craftsman Truck Series. In 2000, he ran sixteen Truck races and posted one top-five and four top-ten finishes. During 2001 and 2002, he competed full-time in the Busch Series, driving the No. 27 Williams Travel Centers Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Brewco Motorsports. The latter year was better for McMurray, as he won two races and finished sixth in the overall points standings.After his surprise win at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte in the No. 40 Winston Cup car, he won his first NASCAR Busch Series win at the Aaron's 312 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in October by beating Joe Nemechek and Michael Waltrip on fuel mileage. McMurray only led one lap total and became the one-hundredth different driver to win in the Grand National Series. He then won the next weekend at the Sam's Club 200 at North Carolina Motor Speedway by leading only the last two laps as leaders Jeff Green and Michael Waltrip wrecked each other on the last lap. McMurray finished the year sixth in final points, 772 points behind champion Greg Biffle, who would end up being his rookie rival in 2003.
First stint with Chip Ganassi Racing (2002–2005)
McMurray's entry into Cup racing did not go as planned. McMurray was scheduled to drive a limited schedule in a No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge in 2002, in preparation for a full-time 2003 rookie of the year campaign in the No. 42 with new sponsor Texaco/Havoline. However, he was instead tapped as interim replacement for injured Ganassi Cup driver Sterling Marlin, who fractured a vertebra in a crash at Kansas Speedway. Thus, McMurray made his Cup debut in the No. 40 Coors Light Dodge at Talladega. One week later, at Charlotte, in just his second career NASCAR Winston Cup and first non-restrictor plate start, McMurray outraced the Joe Gibbs Racing Pontiacs of Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart to win the UAW-GM Quality 500. McMurray had been consistent the entire night and led 96 of the final one hundred laps to score the win. It is considered one of the biggest upsets in NASCAR history. This win set a modern-era record for fewest starts before a win, and it was also the first time a driver won in their first start at a 1.5-mile track. McMurray drove for six of the remaining seven races, except for the Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville, with Mike Bliss driving as scheduled in the No. 40.In 2003, McMurray joined the Cup Series full-time. He won Rookie of the Year honors by 37 points over Greg Biffle. McMurray had five top-fives, thirteen top-tens, and finished thirteenth in the overall standings. He began competing part-time in the Busch Series.
In 2004, McMurray and his team were penalized 25 points after the Food City 500 for an incorrect "x-measurement," a method of comparing the center of the roof with the center of the chassis, which proved costly when later in the year, McMurray missed the Chase for the Cup by fifteen points. If he had made the playoff field, McMurray would have finished the year fourth in points due to his strong performance in the Chase races. The same weekend of the penalty, McMurray was fined $15,000 by NASCAR for intentionally causing a wreck after the race was over.
He had 23 Top 10s during the season, including twelve in the last fourteen races, and finished eleventh in the points standings, which earned him a $1 million bonus. In the same year, he won a Truck Series race, joining 20 other drivers who have won a race in all three of NASCAR's top touring series. In 2005, McMurray scored four top-fives and ten top-tens to finish twelfth in points. McMurray came in tenth in points with a one-point cushion over Ryan Newman in the final race before the chase at Richmond International Raceway. McMurray was wrecked by Tony Raines later in the race, ending his chase hopes.
McMurray left the No. 42 team after the 2005 season to drive for Roush Racing. Owner Chip Ganassi was initially adamant that McMurray would be held to his contract, but on November 7, 2005, McMurray was released when Ganassi and partner Felix Sabates learned that McMurray had signed a contract with Roush already before the season ended. McMurray was originally to go to the No. 6 Ford in 2006, but since Mark Martin announced he would race for another year, McMurray instead took over for Kurt Busch in the No. 97 Crown Royal/IRWIN Tools Ford.
Stint with Roush Fenway Racing (2006–2009)
In April 2006, Jack Roush moved Jimmy Fennig from crew chief of the No. 26 Ford to head Roush's Busch operations. Bob Osborne, who had been crew chief for Carl Edwards, moved to head the crew for McMurray. 2006 was a hard season for McMurray. McMurray's best finish of the 2006 season came at Dover International Speedway, where he finished second after leading the most laps. McMurray would record three top fives, seven top tens, and finish a disappointing 25th in points.File:Jaime McMurrays car.jpg|left|thumb|McMurray's Roush car on display during the 2007 Ford Championship Weekend at the Homestead-Miami Speedway
McMurray began the 2007 season with crew chief Larry Carter. On June 22, 2007, he won his third career Cup pole for the Toyota Save/Mart 350. On lap 1, he was passed by Robby Gordon for the lead, but he spent the first quarter of the race holding off Boris Said and Jeff Burton for second place. When Robby Gordon pitted after 34 laps, McMurray traded the lead repeatedly. With about 45 laps left, McMurray took the lead and dominated the final laps, but with seven to go, Cup rookie and his future teammate Juan Pablo Montoya passed him and held him off until McMurray eventually ran out of gas with two to go and resulting in 37th. On July 7 at the Pepsi 400, McMurray led a few laps in the first stages. However, on lap thirty, McMurray was then black-flagged by NASCAR for slipping out of bounds. He then spent the rest of the race charging back through the field, eventually getting back to the front on lap 155. McMurray then led the final stages but battled Kyle Busch for five laps. On the last lap, Busch was the leader next to McMurray and charged to the finish, but at the last second, McMurray charged one last time and barely beat Busch to win the Pepsi 400 for his second career Cup win. The margin was 0.005 of a second, and the finish resembled the Daytona 500 of the year's finish when Kevin Harvick beat Mark Martin at the last second of the race that year. The photo finish, at that time, was the closest in Daytona International Speedway history and tied for the second closest finish since the advent of electronic scoring in 1993. McMurray finished the year 17th in the point standings.
In the beginning of the 2008 season, McMurray encountered a string of poor finishes that relegated him to 36th in points and thus not guaranteed a spot when NASCAR reached the spring Martinsville race. When the current points went into effect to determine those who were locked in the race, McMurray was required to qualify for the race based on his time around the track. He qualified 5th, locking himself into the field as the fastest of the teams not locked into the race. He earned an 8th-place finish in the race, securing himself a spot in the Top 35 in points and thus a guaranteed starting position for the next race. Throughout the remainder of the season, he steadily climbed in the standings and reached the top twenty in points. On October 11, 2008, McMurray rallied to finish 5th in the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. It was his first top-five finish since his victory at Daytona in July of the previous year. McMurray finished sixteenth in the standings.
McMurray reunited with former crew chief Donnie Wingo in 2009. Crew chief Larry Carter moved to Yates Racing to be crew chief for Paul Menard. McMurray started the 2009 season by dominating the final stages of the Budweiser Shootout, but finished second when he lost the lead to Kevin Harvick on the last lap. McMurray had an excellent Speedweeks, finishing ninth in his Gatorade Duel. In the Daytona 500, McMurray ran up front and was a contender, but was involved in the big one, and his teammate Matt Kenseth won the race. Later in the year, Roush Fenway Racing informed McMurray he would be allowed to leave the team as they needed to cut their teams down to the NASCAR-mandated four. On November 1, 2009, McMurray won the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega after leading over 20 laps and passing David Stremme with eight laps to go. He then survived a green-white checkered finish to earn his second restrictor-plate win. Roush released him and the No. 26 team at the end of the season due to NASCAR's four-team limit and the expiration of Roush Fenway Racing's exemption that allowed a fifth team. McMurray decided to ask former boss Chip Ganassi for another chance following his disappointing era on Roush-Fenway Racing, and Ganassi granted him a contract to let him drive for his merged team with Dale Earnhardt Inc., Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.
Return to Ganassi (2010–2018)
In 2010, McMurray moved over to Earnhardt Ganassi Racing in the No. 1 car, replacing Martin Truex Jr. McMurray reunited with Chip Ganassi when he participated in the 2010 24 Hours of Daytona; it was the first time he has been with Ganassi since 2005.Milestone season
On February 14, 2010, McMurray would start the year off with a bang when, in just his first start for Ganassi since 2005, McMurray won the Daytona 500. He led for only two laps, the least in Daytona 500 history at the time, passing Kevin Harvick with two to go before holding off Greg Biffle and a rapidly charging Dale Earnhardt Jr. McMurray cried in victory lane and thanked Ganassi and his new sponsors for giving him another chance. McMurray accidentally crashed into his new teammate and former rival, Juan Pablo Montoya, at Las Vegas. McMurray apologized, but Montoya said after the race that he felt like McMurray wasn't helping the team much, although later they made up. McMurray almost won the Aaron's 499 that spring, but Kevin Harvick beat him in a.011-second drag race to the finish line. McMurray led 27 laps. It was speculated by McMurray's car owner Felix Sabates, that Harvick went below the yellow line when he made the pass, but this was denied by NASCAR.In May, McMurray ended up second to Kurt Busch in the Coca-Cola 600 and had several more top ten finishes before in July, McMurray held off Harvick again to win the Brickyard 400, which made him one of only three drivers to win the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 in the same year, the feat previously having been accomplished by Jimmie Johnson in 2006 and Dale Jarrett in 1996. Chip Ganassi became the first owner to win both races and the Indianapolis 500 in the same year. In September, McMurray held off Kyle Busch to win the Great Clips 300 in the Nationwide Series at Atlanta. Although he did not make the Chase, he did win the Bank of America 500 at the site of his first win — Charlotte Motor Speedway. McMurray finished fourteenth in the standings with three wins nine top-fives and twelve top-tens.