Jamie McMurray won seven races in his Cup Series career between 2003 and 2018. The most notable of them came in 2010 when he was at the lowest point of his professional life. Following a new mandate by NASCAR that did not allow a team to have more than four entries, he was fired from Roush Fenway Racing at the end of 2009.
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He spent months unsure about a seat for the following season before his former benefactor Chip Ganassi brought him in as a driver for Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing. The decision was rewarded on the very first day of the 2010 season. The Daytona 500 went down with a painfully long series of repairs to the track and was raced for nearly six hours.
At the end of it all, McMurray prevailed over Dale Earnhardt Jr. by 0.119 seconds. He was the least expected winner of all, and the winds favored him just the right level to make it happen. NASCAR’s new rule that allowed for multiple green-white-checkers to decide a race winner played a huge role in prolonging the race enough for him to take the lead and keep it.
The driver was highly emotional after the race. He knelt on his knees in front of the words ‘Daytona 500’ at the finish line and said, “I’m going to cry. I can’t explain it. It’s a dream. I just won the Daytona 500.” He went from being a driver without a car to etching his name in history forever. But the string of success did not end there.
McMurray helped Ganassi create history by winning the Brickyard 400
By the time the Brickyard 400 came by in July, Dario Franchitti had won the Indianapolis 500 for Ganassi. If one of his cars could find its way to victory lane in the Brickyard 400, he would become the first team owner to win the Daytona 500, the Indy 500, and the Brickyard 400 in the same season.
Juan Pablo Montoya started the race from pole position and led more than half the laps. He appeared set for a resounding win before a bad pit strategy pushed him down the ladder. Running behind him in second place was his teammate McMurray. The Daytona 500 winner made use of the opportunity and sped to the finish line in first place.
He joined Jimmie Johnson and Dale Jarrett as the only drivers to win the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 in a single season. Now 48 years old, McMurray serves as an analyst for Fox Sports. His son Carter, 14, races in the Legends Young Lions Division.
