Know Your Driver: Jamie McMurray

Jamie McMurray

Name: Jamie McMurray

            Nickname: "Jamie Mac", "Big Mac"

Date of Birth: June 3, 1976 (age 38)

Hometown: Joplin, Missouri

Family: Christy, wife; Carter, son; Hazel, daughter

First Career Start: October 6, 2002 (Talladega)

Car Number and Make: #1 Chevrolet SS

Primary Sponsors: 

• McDonald's
• Cessna
• Bass Pro Shops
• Sherwin Williams

Team: Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates

           

Teammates: Kyle Larson

Best Career Points Finish: 11th (2004)

Career Victories: 7

           

Notable Wins:

• 2010 Daytona 500
• 2010 Brickyard 400
• 2014 All-Star Race (not counted as a career victory)

Description: Jamie McMurray has to be one of the most clutch, yet least consistent drivers to have ever raced in NASCAR. 

Let's start with the clutch. For starters, McMurray took the NASCAR world by storm when he won his second ever Sprint Cup start at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2002 while filling in for the injured Sterling Marlin. He set the record for a first career victory in the fewest amount of starts (2) that day (now tied with Trevor Bayne). He also had a phenomenal 2010, where he won the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same season, a feat only accomplished by two other drivers (Dale Jarrett and Jimmie Johnson), and nearly won the Coca-Cola 600 as well (finished 2nd). He would've been the first driver to ever score NASCAR's Triple Crown (Daytona, Indy, Coke 600) had we won the 600. And to top it off, he also won the All-Star Race in 2014.

But for as many career defining moments that McMurray has had, he's never been able to finish consistently enough to run for a title. He's never made the Chase. He's never even finished in the top-10 in points. If you look at the strength of his wins over his career, you'd have to think he's a Hall of Fame caliber driver, but without even one top-10 points finish, that would almost certainly be his downfall.

Still, McMurray has shown himself to be a very talented driver and a guy who people respect in the garage area.

Fun Facts: McMurray also won the prestigious 24 Hours of Daytona race in the Rolex Sports Car Series in 2015.