Jamie McMurray

**James Christopher "Jamie" McMurray**

Born:	June 3 1976 (1976--) (age 31)
Birthplace:	Joplin, Missouri
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
First Race:	2002 EA Sports 500 (Talladega)
First Win:	2002 UAW-GM Quality Part 500 (Charlotte)
Last Win:	2007 Pepsi 400 (Daytona)
Wins	Top Tens	Poles
2	62	3
NASCAR Busch Series Statistics
Car #, Team	26 - Roush Fenway Racing and 37 - Brewco Motorsports
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 June 30, 2007.

Jamie McMurray (born June 3, 1976 in Joplin, Missouri) is a NASCAR race car 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.

NASCAR career

In 1999, McMurray made 4 starts in the Craftsman Truck series. In 2000, he ran 15 Craftsman Truck races and posted 1 top-five and 4 top-ten finishes.

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.

Before the fall race at Richmond in 2002, Chip Ganassi announced McMurray as the driver of a Texaco-Havoline sponsored Dodge in 2003. Those plans were accelerated when Sterling Marlin fractured a vertebrae at the NEXTEL Cup Race at Kansas Speedway. He made his Cup debut filling in for Marlin at Talladega and one week later in just his second career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup start, Jamie McMurray outduelled Bobby Labonte to win the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, NC, setting the record for the fastest first time winner in NASCAR history. He was the last driver to win a NNCS race and not race the next week as Mike Bliss drove the #40 Coors Light Dodge at Martinsville Speedway while McMurray had a commitment to race NBS in Memphis.

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.

2006

In April of 2006, Jack Roush moved Jimmy Fennig from crew chief of the #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. In 2006, he was an adviser for the drivers below 10th and trying to make the Chase For The Cup, since he had been in that position in the past two years. McMurray's best finish of the 2006 season came at Dover where he finished 2nd.

2007

Jamie began the 2007 season with crew chief Larry Carter, formerly from MWR and the crew chief who won Rusty Wallace his 55th and Final Nascar Cup win back at Martinsville in 2004 , sponsored by Crown Royal and IRWIN Tools. On June 22, 2007 he won his 3rd career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Pole, for the 2007 Toyota/Save Mart 350. On July 7th, 2007 McMurray won the Pepsi 400 by .005 of a second over Kyle Busch. The photo finish was the closest in Daytona International Speedway history and tied for the 2nd closest finish (1993 DieHard 500) since the advent of electronic scoring in 1993.

In Popular Culture

MTV Cribs
The West Wing
Biography Channel's NASCAR: Driven to Win
Daytime TV's Passions
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

Races Won

NEXTEL Cup (2 career wins)

2002 - UAW-GM Quality 500 (Charlotte)
2007 - Pepsi 400 (Daytona)

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.

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

External links

Roush Fenway Racing
Nextel Cup drivers	David Ragan (#6) \| Greg Biffle (#16) \| Matt Kenseth (#17) \| Jamie McMurray (#26) \| Carl Edwards (#99)
Craftsman Truck Series drivers	Travis Kvapil (#6) \| T.J. Bell (#50) \| Erik Darnell (#99)
Development drivers	Colin Braun \| Danny O'Quinn \| Peter Shepherd \| Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
Partnerships and affiliations	Brewco Motorsports \| No Fear Racing \| Robby Gordon Motorsports \| Wood Brothers/JTG Racing \| Yates Racing
Other	Jack Roush \| Robbie Reiser \| John W. Henry \| Mark Martin \| Roush Racing: Driver X \| Fenway Sports Group

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