Jamie McMurray
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| Born: | June 3, 1976 (age 30) | |
| Birthplace: |  Joplin, Missouri |
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| Awards: | 2003 Rookie of the Year | |
| NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Statistics | ||
| Car #, Team | 26 - Roush Fenway Racing | |
| 2006 NEXTEL Cup Position: | 25th | |
| Best Cup Position: | 11th - 2004 (Nextel Cup) | |
| First Race: | 2002 EA Sports 500 (Talladega) | |
| First Win: | 2002 UAW-GM Quality 500 (Lowe's) | |
| Wins | Top Tens | Poles |
| 1 | 57 | 2 |
| NASCAR Busch Series Statistics | ||
| Car #, Team | 26 - Roush Fenway Racing
Previous_Year = 2005 |
|
| 2006 NBS Position: | 36th | |
| Best NBS Position: | 6th - 2002 | |
| First Race: | 2000 Sam's Town 250 (Memphis) | |
| First Win: | 2002 Aaron's 312 (Atlanta) | |
| Last Win: | 2004 Bi-Lo 200 (Darlington) | |
| Wins | Top Tens | Poles |
| 7 | 48 | 1 |
| All stats current as of March 25, 2007. | ||
James Christopher "Jamie" McMurray (born June 3, 1976 in Joplin, Missouri) is a NASCAR driver. He currently drives the #26 Crown Royal Irwin Industrial Tools Ford Fusion full-time in the NEXTEL Cup Series with crew chief Larry Carter for Roush Fenway Racing.
His teammates are David Ragan (#6 AAA), Greg Biffle (#16 Ameriquest), Matt Kenseth (#17 DeWalt) and Carl Edwards (#99 Office Depot). He began competing in the Busch Series full-time in 2001 and in the NEXTEL Cup Series full-time in 2003.
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[edit] NASCAR career
In 1999, McMurray ran the full Craftsman truck series. In 2000 he ran 15 races and posted a few top fives and top tens.
In 2001 and 2002, he competed full-time in the NASCAR Busch Series, driving the #27 Williams Travel Centers Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Brewco Motorsports. The latter year turned out better for McMurray, as he won two races and finished sixth in the overall points standings.
In October of 2002, McMurray replaced an injured Sterling Marlin and won the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in what was only his second career start.
In 2003, McMurray became a NEXTEL Cup regular. He won the NASCAR Winston Cup (now NEXTEL Cup) Rookie of the Year competition by 37 points over Greg Biffle. McMurray had 5 top-5s for the year and finished 13th overall. 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," which proved costly when, later in the year, McMurray missed the Chase for the Cup by 15 points. However, he had 23 top-10s during the season, including 12 in the last 14 races, and finished 11th in the points standings, which earned him a $1 million bonus. Had he made the Chase for the Championship, he would have been Champion. He won a Craftsman Truck Series race, joining a short list of drivers that have won a race in all three of NASCAR's top touring series (Craftsman Truck, Busch, and NEXTEL Cup).
McMurray left the #42 team after the 2005 season to drive the #26 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing. Owner Chip Ganassi was initially adamant that McMurray would not be released for 2006. However, on November 7, 2005, McMurray was released from his contract. McMurray was originally supposed to go to the #6 Ford in 2007, but since Kurt Busch was released after an off-track incident, and Mark Martin announced he would race for another year, Jamie instead took over for Kurt Busch in the #97 Ford (which was renumbered #26).
McMurray's contract with Roush Fenway Racing is one of the richest in NASCAR history with a guaranteed salary of $20 million dollars per year plus bonuses.
McMurray has 2 poles in his NEXTEL Cup career. The first came at the 2003 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and the other was in 2005 at the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway. In April of 2006, Jack Roush moved Jimmy Fenning from crew chief of the #26 Ford to head Roush's Busch operations. Bob Osbourne, who had been crew chief for Carl Edwards, moved to head the crew for McMurray. As of June 15, McMurray's best finish of the 2006 season came at Dover where he finished 2nd.
In 2006, he has been an adviser for the drivers below 10th and trying to make the Chase For The Cup, since he has been in that position in the past two years.
Jamie begins the 2007 season with crew chief Larry Carter, formerly from MWR, sponsored by Crown Royal and IRWIN Tools.
McMurray has appeared on MTV's Cribs, The West Wing, and The Biography Channel's NASCAR: Driven to Win.
[edit] Criticism
Although Jamie McMurray scored an upset victory at the UAW-GM Quality 500 in 2002, he has not had much success since then. Jamie McMurray moved to a top notch team in Roush Racing but failed to score a win in 2006. McMurray has the same equipment as each of the other Roush Racing drivers but his results are nowhere near the same. This could be credited to that McMurray prefers to make the calls that the crew chief should make (a problem that often plagued Rusty Wallace) and this results in bad finishes. As far as performance 2007 is a make-or-break season for McMurray.
[edit] Races Won
[edit] Winston/Nextel Cup (1 career win )
- 2003 (0 wins) Rookie of the Year
- 2002 (1 win ) UAW-GM Quality 500 (Charlotte)
[edit] Busch Series (7 career wins)
- 2004 (3 wins) Goody's Headache Powder 200 (Rockingham), Bashas' Supermarkets 200 (Phoenix), Bi-Lo 200 (Darlington)
- 2003 (2 wins) Rockingham 200 (Rockingham), Target House 200 (Rockingham)
- 2002 (2 wins) Aaron's 312 (Atlanta), Sam's Club 200 (Rockingham)
- *McMurray won the last four Busch Series races to be run at Rockingham.
[edit] Craftsman Truck Series (1 career win )
- 2004 (1 win ) Kroger 200 (Martinsville),
| Preceded by Ryan Newman |
NASCAR Rookie of the year 2003 |
Succeeded by Kasey Kahne |
[edit] External links
- JamieMcMurray.com - Jamie McMurray Online Official Fan Site
- Jayski's #26 Team Page
- Jamie's Driver Page on NASCAR.com
- Coca-Cola Racing Family's Jamie McMurray profile
- Jamie McMurray: Driver, Team, and Sponsor News.
- Jamie McMurray Fan Forum and Live Chat
- Driver's Stats at racing-reference.info
- Jamie McMurray Exclusive Interview - KNOCKOUT Magazine - Summer 2006 Issue
| Roush Fenway Racing | |
| Nextel Cup drivers | David Ragan (#6) | Greg Biffle (#16) | Matt Kenseth (#17) | Jamie McMurray (#26) | Carl Edwards (#99) |
| Busch Series drivers | Todd Kluever (#16) | Mark Martin (#06) | Danny O'Quinn, Jr. (#50) |
| Craftsman Truck Series drivers | Travis Kvapil (#6) | Peter Shepherd (#50) | Erik Darnell (#99) |
| Partnerships and affiliations | Robert Yates Racing | No Fear Racing | Tim Brown Racing |
| Other | Jack Roush | Robbie Reiser | John W. Henry | Roush Racing: Driver X | Fenway Sports Group |
