The pressure is officially on Jamie McMurray, a one-time Chase contender who now finds himself in jeopardy of missing races.
A disastrous start to the season — his best finish was a 22nd at California — sent McMurray into NASCAR’s first off weekend ranked 36th in the points standings. It had to have made for a miserable break for McMurray.
He heads into Martinsville Speedway, where he must qualify on speed to make Sunday’s race. It’s an agonizing position for any driver, but must be particularly difficult for the self-loathing McMurray — a guy who was so despondent over his first season at Roush Fenway Racing, he couldn’t sleep and was convinced he had to relearn how to drive.
A personal trainer and a sports psychologist helped him rebuild his confidence, and the work seemed to pay off last season when McMurray snapped a 166-race winless streak and showed flashes of the skill that had once anointed him NASCAR’s next superstar.
A replacement driver for an injured Sterling Marlin, McMurray set a NASCAR record by winning in his second start in October 2002.
But with just two victories in 191 career starts, he’s never lived up to that early billing. Even now, in his topflight Roush ride, McMurray is struggling to get the job done.
With the pressure mounting to solidify a spot inside the top 35, McMurray instead finished 40th or worse in the past two races. His last-place finish two weeks ago in Bristol dropped him five spots in the standings, and put him officially outside the top 35.
And there’s no relief in sight.
McMurray hasn’t notched a top-10 finish since Texas last November and that snapped a streak of five consecutive finishes of 24th or worse. He hasn’t been inside the top five since his last-lap victory at Daytona last July, his second and last win.
It’s a far cry from where he started when Chip Ganassi Racing hired him in 2002. McMurray finished 13th in the points during his 2003 rookie season, and just missed out on making the Chase in 2004 when he wound up 11th when the 10-driver field was set. He was 12th the next season.
Recognized as a promising driver in underperforming equipment, car owner Jack Roush took a chance on him in summer 2005 by signing him to a contract that initially wasn’t supposed to being until McMurray’s deal with Ganassi ended after the 2006 season.
But McMurray used the early signing as leverage, often wondering why Ganassi would hold him to a contract McMurray clearly didn’t want to fulfill. The two car owners negotiated late into the season before Roush finally secured McMurray’s early release.
It didn’t come cheap, and Roush’s investment has yet to pay off.
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Jamie is just like David Gilliland and so many others, Just because they get lucky and win a race or two it does not mean they are the next Superstar. Now that happens in most racing series, and its unfortunate because it does nothing but hurt those drivers careers in the long run. Remember they didn’t ask to get that “Next Great Superstar” label put on them.
i remember when he put on that Coors light uniform for Chip and Felix when Sterling got hurt. he was a nice kid , Rusty and Kenny liked him, he dated Rustys daughter Katie , they were all from Missouri, Rusty should replace Steve and hire Jamie, he is just another Chad Little, Ted Musgrave , or Johnny Benson at Roush. Hes not a superstar and Jack does not work with him enough. Jack has to cut his 5th team at the end of the season and it will be Jamie because he will keep David Ragan, David is 21st in points and he has a great career at Roush Fenway.
hey Fisha where were you last night with the Reutimann post , i forgot to put the word points in my paragraph and this rude Jr fan when on and on all night about it.
He’s just a fill in driver that floats off in the back and fills in the last 20 or so spots in the 43 car line up. He’s just…there. Nobody notices him or remembers him until he’s the cause of a wreck or when the leader catches up to lapped traffic.
Some of those things maybe true he could also be getting junk cars,every team has that driver like at hendrick mears career is done there not that he ever did much to start with.
Howie:
He would not have gone on and on if you didn’t bite on the bait.
It takes 2 to keep a argument going you know… Or in that case I guess you didn’t know.
Taking cheap shots at JR Fans will only get you in more arguments as well…
I agree with Fisha…
Fisha695 wrote:
He is a real nice guy and deserves to try and stay in the series BUT their are no FREE rides here so Jammie needs to find his racing center and focus just on the car and racing and he will be OK, I hope…
i agree mcmurray will be out at the end of the series, probably end up at yates or some underfunded team, if not worse. Furniture row?
sucks to be millionare in the nationwide serious I guess
bring back Sterling Marlin
better bring in Dick Trickle or Shawna Robinson
jammie has not only been the “cause” of a few wrecks he gets caught up in more wrecks i think than anybody as far as jack giving him the boot he has been working with the 99 team so hopefully better days are coming no matter what ill still be a fan of his
Howie motorsports photography wrote:
Been real busy these past few weeks getting the Modified together, We just got everything done last week Chassis/Drivetrain wise, and today we just finished up hanging the body, only to take it apart, load it in the back of the truck and take it down to get powdercoated…. Now when we get it back in a few days, we gotta put the body back on, then vinyl it up…. l0l
Good luck this year Fisha but as far as Jamie i think he might just be too nice for the cup series. He also needs to stop letting the politics get to him so much and just drive the stupid car.
I think Jamie just needs to find another career that he might be better at. IMO
Julie wrote:
Even if you can’t drive, NASCAR is the best career to have, because even in the truck series you can finish last and make more money in two hours then most of us make in a month. l0l
The only difference between Jamie and Derrike Cope is a Daytona 500 win. Cope will always be known as a 500 champion. Jamie will forever toil as a good guy that was mediocre at best. But he does have twice as many Cup wins as Brett Bodine. (lol)
Fisha695 wrote:
Oh yea, just ask Mike Skinner about that one. Truck racing paid his bills for a long time…
Poor Jamie:(I Just Think He Needs To Quit Worrying About Girls Like The Rest Of The Young Guns And Haul Balls This Weekend;)This Will Soon Happen To Mears As Well. GO TEAM BUDWEISER!!!:)