The Checkered Flag writes:

"A Look Back at the Unique NASCAR Career of Jamie McMurray"

Posted by Mile501 on May 22, 2019

Viewed 916 times Tweet 20 years ago, on May 22, 1999, an unknown driver from Missouri made his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at I-70 Speedway. Now, 20 years later, and a few months after his retirement from full-time NASCAR racing, I would like to take a look back at the career of a driver who, though he was not among the best drivers to ever race in the series, had one of the most unique careers in NASCAR history.



-- Early Career --



Jamie McMurray has been racing for most of his life, having won a World Go Karting Championship back in 1991. He entered the NASCAR realm in the late 1990s and ended up having a lengthy, modestly successful career that was quite unique in a number of ways.



McMurray entered the Craftsman Truck Series in 1999, running 5 races for longtime truck owner Mike Mittler (who passed away less than two weeks ago after a long battle with cancer). The Mittler Brothers never had much funding for their team but were known for giving young drivers an opportunity, much as Junie Donlavey once did in Winston Cup. Though Mittler is best associated with #63, his team did not use that number at first. McMurray ironically drove the same #26 that he would later drive for several years in the Cup Series. His first start was at I-70 Speedway, a short track in his home state of Missouri. He ran the whole race, finishing 7 laps down in 24th. He ran four more races throughout the 1998 season, scoring a best finish of 11th at Las Vegas.



In 2000, McMurray ran 10 more races for Mittler. Unfortunately, the team was not the best-funded, and he failed to finish half his starts, mainly due to engine failures. Towards the end of the season, McMurray began to drive for a relatively unknown team known as TKO Motorsports and had surprisingly strong results. McMurray ran 6 races for the team and had 2 DNFs--but finished in the top 6 in each of his other 4 starts.



-- Busch Series Career --



By this time, McMurray had caught the eye of Busch Series owner Clarence Brewer, of Brewco Motorsports. Up to this time, Brewco had earned a couple of victories with Casey Atwood, but had not yet found consistent success after several years in the Busch Series. Unfortunately, McMurray's 2001 rookie season wouldn't go much better. He struggled, never finishing in the top 5 and ending the season a disappointing 16th in the standings. Teammate Kevin Grubb scored a few strong finishes but only finished slightly higher in points.



Nevertheless, McMurray continued with the team in 2002, and began to produce much more solid results. By September, he ranked 8th in points and had earned several strong finishes, including a near-win at Richmond when he led 42 laps and finished 2nd to Dale Earnhardt Jr.



His improved results had caught the attention of owner Chip Ganassi, who hired McMurray to be the driver of his new third team (#42), running as a teammate to Sterling Marlin and fellow rookie Casey Mears (who would replace Jimmy Spencer) starting in 2003. McMurray was scheduled to run a few races towards the end of the 2002 season, and was set to make his debut at Talladega in the fall.



But the week before the Talladega race, Sterling Marlin crashed at Kansas and suffered injuries that would keep him out of the car for the rest of the season. This was a crushing blow to the #40 team, as Marlin had led the points for most of the season (though he had lost the points lead a few weeks before this season-ending crash). McMurray, who was already scheduled to race the new #42 at Talladega, took over for Marlin in the #40 instead.



-- Moving Up to Winston Cup --



McMurray's unique Cup career began in this unique race. To this day (and into the foreseeable future, unless NASCAR at some point eliminates stage cautions), this race at Talladega remains the last caution-free race in Cup history. But before the race even started, front-row starters Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin (who were also 1st and 2nd in points, as qualifying had been rained out) collided and had to pit for repairs. This event could have cost Martin a championship, as he finished 30th in this race and ultimately lost the title to Tony Stewart by 38 points.



McMurray's first Cup start was less eventful. He stayed out of trouble and brought the #40 Dodge home in 26th position as Dale Earnhardt Jr. claimed the victory. Meanwhile, two cars McMurray would drive later in his career had strong finishes. Kurt Busch in the #97 finished 4th, and Steve Park in the #1 finished 6th. Years later, McMurray would drive Roush's #26 (renumbered from #97), and later would return to Ganassi to drive the #1 that Ganassi inherited from DEI.



So his first Cup start came in a race that was quite unusual in a couple of ways. But McMurray was about to make his own history in his second start the next week at Charlotte. Considering he had never won in the Truck or Busch Series, no one would have expected what happened that night.



The entire 2002 season was highly competitive, with no single dominant driver. Matt Kenseth led the series with 5 wins, but lacked the consistency he would find in 2003. Although Sterling Marlin led the points for most of the season, he only did so because no one else was all that consistent, either. He held onto the points lead through 7 separate poor finishes.



The fall 2002 race at Charlotte mirrored the season as a whole. There were 23 lead changes among several different drivers, and no one particular driver dominated. In just his second Cup start, substitute driver Jamie McMurray surprised everyone when he passed Bobby Labonte and initially took the lead on lap 212. He retook the lead on lap 229, just before the last caution of the race, and held the lead from that point on except during the last pit stop cycle. He retook the lead for good on lap 304, once the final cycle of pit stops was complete, and held on for the last 31 laps to claim a thrilling victory over veteran Bobby Labonte.



McMurray set a record for modern-era NASCAR by winning in just his second career start. Trevor Bayne later tied his record by winning the 2011 Daytona 500, but McMurray's victory that night remains among the biggest surprises in the sport's history.



The remainder of McMurray's 2002 Cup season, filling in for Sterling Marlin, was uneventful. But his newfound confidence apparently translated into his Busch team. A week after his Charlotte win, he finished 3rd at Memphis, then went on to score two consecutive victories at Atlanta and Rockingham. Both wins were surprises; he only led the last lap at Atlanta in a fuel mileage victory, then he only led the last two laps at Rockingham after the leaders wrecked with a couple of laps to go.



Jamie McMurray had suddenly gone from a relative unknown to a three-time NASCAR winner, first winning in his second Winston Cup start and following it up with two Busch Series wins. In the process, he also became the 100th driver in history to win a race under the "Grand National" banner. Everyone was excited to see what this young driver from Missouri could accomplish when he entered the Winston Cup Series full-time in 2003.



-- Full-Time in Winston Cup --



McMurray had a respectable rookie season in 2003, accumulating 5 top 5s and 13 top 10s, plus 1 pole award in the season finale at Homestead. He also showed steady improvement throughout the season, evidenced by the fact that he climbed from 23rd in points after the second Michigan race to 13th in points by the end of the final season under the Winston Cup banner.



At the same time, McMurray was becoming the driver to beat at Rockingham in the Busch Series, a track that would soon lose both of its NASCAR dates. He earned 2 Busch Series wins in 2003, both at Rockingham, leading the most laps both times while driving the #1 for owner James Finch. In fact, Rockingham is another interesting aspect of McMurray's unique career, since he also won the final race held there in 2004 driving for Todd Braun. Unless NASCAR someday makes a return to The Rock, McMurray holds the distinction of having won the last 4 Busch Series races held at Rockingham.



In fact, McMurray nearly won the last Cup race at Rockingham as well, leading laps and finishing a close 3rd behind the legendary battle where Matt Kenseth narrowly held off rookie Kasey Kahne. It is a shame that Rockingham is no longer on the schedule, as the unique and abrasive track often produced great racing like that.



Overall, McMurray's 2004 Nextel Cup season was impressive and disappointing all at the same time. He had a number of strong runs, and racked up and impressive 23 top 10 finishes, tied for second-best in the series. Unfortunately, he also had 6 DNFs throughout the first 26 races (2 crashes and 4 mechanical failures). When Jeremy Mayfield won the regular season finale at Richmond, McMurray was left on the outside looking in for the very first Chase for the Nextel Cup, missing the cut by a mere 15 points under the old Latford point system (that would translate to a mere 3-5 points under the current point system).



Undaunted by missing the chase, McMurray went on a tare through the final 10 races, scoring 8 more top 10s and nearly winning at Martinsville. Had he been able to make the chase, and assuming all other things remained the same, he would have ended the season 4th in points. Instead, under the new system, he could finish no higher than 11th. At the time, no one would have thought that he would never finish among the top 10 in points throughout his career, and that in 2004, he missed his best opportunity to do so.



McMurray accomplished a few other things in 2004 as well. Late in the season, he earned 2 more Busch Series wins at Phoenix and Darlington, both for different owners (Chip Ganassi and Rusty Wallace). All in all, he won 3 races for 3 different owners in the 2004 Busch Series. He drove in a total of 14 races for 4 different owners. In addition, after failing to get a win in the Craftsman Truck Series before moving up to Busch and Cup, he finally won a truck race at Martinsville in the fall of 2004.



At that time, he became the 8th driver to earn a win in all 3 of NASCAR's national series (Cup, Busch, truck). However, he did it in the opposite order from what would normally be expected. He won a Cup race first, then a Busch race, then a truck race. To date, he is the only one of the 31 drivers who have won in all 3 national series to have accomplished the feat in that exact order.



-- The Move to Roush --



2005 was similar to 2004 for McMurray. He generally ran well but had some poor finishes as well, though he did not accumulate as many top 10 finishes as he did in 2004. He ranked 10th in points heading into Richmond, the cutoff race to set the field for the second Chase for the Nextel Cup, but he had a terrible race and then was caught up in a late-race accident. His hopes for a chase appearance were dashed at Richmond for the second year in a row.



Meanwhile, the 5-car Roush organization was having a banner year. In that same race at Richmond, cars from Roush Racing finished 1-2-3 while all 5 Roush drivers made the chase, filling half of the 10 available spots. But Roush driver Kurt Busch, the defending champion, was set to move to Penske Racing starting in 2006. Although he had yet to win again in Cup after his surprise win in his second start, other car owners were still taking notice of his talent and potential. He was finishing in the top 10 in nearly half his starts. So, Jack Roush hired Jamie McMurray to replace Kurt Busch and pilot the newly renumbered #26 car starting in 2006.



The move to the top-tier Roush Racing organization was widely considered to be a great move for McMurray, giving him a place to finally be able to win races on a regular basis. Unfortunately, it did not turn out that way at all. In his 4 seasons with Roush (2006-2009), McMurray never made the chase and turned in consistently unimpressive results. Many people believe that the working environment at Roush simply was not the right atmosphere that McMurray needed to be successful. He did finally return to victory lane, winning 2 races, but both were restrictor plate races--the July Daytona race in 2007 and the fall Talladega race in 2009.



After winning in just his 2nd start, McMurray's career had not gone the way anyone expected. Now with 7 full seasons in Cup under his belt, he had yet to win again on a non-plate track and he had failed to finish in the top 10 in points each season. He led laps and contended for wins at other tracks on rare occasions, but not very often at all. When Roush was forced to downsize to comply with NASCAR's new four-team limit, the underperforming McMurray was the odd man out.



-- A New Beginning --



But Chip Ganassi still felt like Jamie McMurray had something to prove, and for the 2010 season, McMurray returned to the merged Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, after 4 years away from Ganassi, to pilot the #1 car. Their very first race back together was the 2010 Daytona 500, an action-packed race that featured 52 lead changes. Jamie McMurray didn't lead any laps during the scheduled distance, but he took the lead from Kevin Harvick on the second green-white-checkered attempt and led only the last two laps en route to an emotional victory. In his victory lane interview, he talked about how thankful he was for this opportunity and about the power of prayer.



He wasn't done winning, either. 2010 would turn out to be the only season in his entire Cup career in which McMurray earned multiple victories. Later in the season, he took the lead with about 20 laps to go and again held off Kevin Harvick to win another prestigious race, the Brickyard 400. In doing so, McMurray became just the third driver to win both the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 in the same season, and no driver has accomplished the feat since he did in 2010. McMurray's teammate, Juan Pablo Montoya, won the pole for that race and led the most laps before crashing late in the race. In fact, this was the second year in a row Montoya had led the most laps at Indianapolis but failed to win.



Towards the end of the season, McMurray earned one more victory. He passed Kyle Busch on a restart with about 20 laps to go and led a total of 65 laps at Charlotte en route to his third victory of the year. He had also narrowly edged out Kyle Busch for a Nationwide Series victory at Atlanta a few weeks earlier, driving for JR Motorsports. That would become the last of McMurray's 8 Busch/Nationwide Series victories, which he earned while driving for 6 different owners.



Unfortunately, despite his career-high 3 victories in 2010, McMurray was inconsistent enough that he missed the Chase field once again and ended the season 14th in points. In 2011 and 2012, though, the performance of both McMurray and teammate Montoya would significantly decline. He only accumulated total 2 top 5 finishes between the two seasons and finished outside the top 20 in points both times.



In 2013, though, the pair began to show modest improvement. McMurray earned another victory--his first in three years and ultimately the last of his career--in the fall Talladega race. He finished the season 15th in points, an improvement from the previous couple of seasons. At the end of 2013, Montoya made the move back to Indycar, and McMurray was set to have a new rookie teammate, Kyle Larson.



-- One Last Resurgence --



Widely regarded as one of the most talented drivers in NASCAR today, Kyle Larson's move to the Sprint Cup Series in 2014 certainly seemed to help the entire Ganassi organization improve somewhat. Though consistency was an issue, both drivers showed speed in 2014 and the duo ended the season 17th and 18th in points, the top two drivers to miss the new 16-driver playoff field. Both drivers ran well enough to where they would have made the playoffs had there not been two surprise winners (Aric Almirola and A.J. Allmendinger) who got into the playoffs before them in the new "win and you're in" championship format.



Still, the organization continued to show signs of improvement after the addition of Kyle Larson. From 2015 through 2017, Jamie McMurray (who had never previously qualified for the chase or playoffs, despite several near-misses) did qualify for the 16-driver playoff field, finishing either 12th or 13th in points each season. In fact, 2017 saw the now 15-year Cup veteran have one of his best seasons yet, almost finishing in the top 10 in points for the first time until crashes at Talladega and Kansas knocked him back to 12th.



Still, 2017 was an impressive resurgence near the end of McMurray's career. He still didn't lead many laps or seriously contend for wins, but he finished in the top 10 in nearly half the races and showed he still could run near the front.



2018, though, saw another decline in performance. McMurray only earned 8 top 10 finishes and ended the season 20th in points. Towards the end of the season, news broke that McMurray would retire and Kurt Busch would take over the #1 car in 2019.



-- His Final Race --



Chip Ganassi gave Jamie McMurray one last race--the 2019 Daytona 500, 9 years after McMurray returned to Ganassi and won the Great American Race. McMurray had a respectable run and led 6 laps during the race, becoming one of a very few drivers to lead laps in his final career start. Ultimately, he was collected in a crash and finished 22nd, but leading laps and running competitively in his final race was still a good way to wrap up his career.



Jamie McMurray won't be remembered as one of the top drivers in the history of NASCAR. But he has always been a well-respected, solid, and consistent driver, and he still holds some unique places in the record books.



-- A Summary of Unique Moments and Records from Jamie McMurray's Career --



- He made his Winston Cup debut in the last race to run caution-free.



- He won in his second career Winston Cup start, a record he still holds (tied with Trevor Bayne).



- He won the last 4 Busch Series races at Rockingham.



- He won his second Cup race driving the #40 car and, years later, won his first Cup race driving the #1 car. While some of his best seasons came in the #42, he was never actually able to win a race while driving that car.



- The span from his first Cup win to his last is a little over 10 years, but the majority of his Cup wins (4 of 7) came during a one-year period from November 2009 through October 2010.



- He is one of 31 drivers to win at least one race in the Cup, Busch, and Truck series, but he is the only driver to do so in the exact opposite order from what would normally be expected.



- He won 8 Busch/Nationwide Series races for 6 different owners.



- Though he only has 16 total wins in NASCAR's top 3 series, he has driven 9 different car numbers and taken 8 different owners to victory lane. In addition, he won at least one race under each of these series sponsors: Winston Cup, Sprint Cup, Nextel Cup, Busch, Nationwide, and Craftsman.



- Across the top 3 series, he earned 1 more pole than victory in his career (17 total poles), but he never won both the pole and the race in the same race.



- He is one of only 3 drivers (and the one who has done it most recently) to win the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 in the same season.



- He led laps in his second Cup start, then he also led laps in his final Cup start, one of only 3 drivers with 500+ starts to lead in his final career Cup race (Dale Earnhardt and Joe Nemechek were the others).



- He spanned a period of over 16 years from the first race he led (his 2002 win at Charlotte) to the last race he led (the 2019 Daytona 500), despite not leading a significant number of laps throughout his career. He led laps in every season of his Cup career except 2016.



- He is arguably the best driver in history to never finish among the top 10 in points (though he likely would have at least once or twice had the point system not continued to change). Opinions expressed in blogs are those of the individual bloggers and do not necessarily represent the views of racing-reference.info.