Top-30 drivers: Jamie McMurray
By Rea White
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
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TODD WARSHAW / GETTY IMAGES /
Jamie McMurray was having a season to remember. Halfway through the year, he had his second career victory (and first since 2002), his third career pole (and first since 2005) and was solidly in contention for his first-ever berth in the Chase For The Nextel Cup. Then, in one incredible slump, it all fell apart.
McMurray, 31, just wrapped up his second season at Roush Fenway Racing after spending the first part of his career at Chip Ganassi Racing. Though the Joplin, Mo., native finished in a respectable 17th points position, he collected just $3.8 million in purses this season (ranked 26th in earnings) because of poor Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 finishes.
During the offseason, SceneDaily is taking a look at the top 30 in 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup driver points, and here¹s how McMurray¹s season unfolded:
By the numbers: McMurray won the Pepsi 400 to snap a 166-race winless streak and had three top-five and nine top-10 finishes. But his season was divided into halves. In the first half, he had all three of his top-fives, seven top-10s and just one DNF. In the second half, he had zero top-fives, just two-top 10s and crashed out of four races.
Season highlights: The Pepsi 400 victory at Daytona came in a thrilling finish that was the second-closest since NASCAR instituted electronic timing. McMurray and Kyle Busch came to the finish line side by side, and McMurray won by the smallest of margins to break through for his first win since 2002, which came in just his second career start. He also finished fifth in the spring races at Texas and Talladega, when he left the Alabama track sitting seventh in the point standings.
Key setbacks: After his Pepsi 400 win lifted him to the Chase bubble, McMurray lost six spots in six races to knock him from contention - a devastating span in which he finished outside the top 25 in every event and was worse than 30th five times.
Newsworthy moment: McMurray made noise by turning himself into a Chase contender early in the season. He became a fixture in stories about resurgent drivers and looked to make the biggest comeback of any driver from 2006 to 2007. But his midseason swoon quieted that talk in a hurry.
In his words: "When I look back through all the years - there were a lot of opportunities that we came close to winning. ... And certainly it's disappointing. You can't dwell on that. As long as you show up and you feel like you're a contender - [even] if you didn't win - you have to look at the bright side of that. If a guy sits back and worries to death about not winning, he's not focused on trying to win."
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