A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti are each known as racing legends for the victories and championships that they accumulated over their careers. Now, Jamie McMurray has etched his team into company with them.
The Joplin, Missouri driver became only the third driver to win both the Daytona 500 and the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona when he won the event on Sunday afternoon with Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan and Kyle Larson.
“It’s pretty unbelievable,” McMurray commented post-race. “You know, getting to come down and have the opportunity to run this race for Chip and Felix and knowing that you have a chance to win it every year that you’re down here, you know, it makes you want to come do it, and to get to be in that group with Mario and AJ is quite a feeling.
“I saw Chip walk in here just a second ago, and I told him after the race was over, I’m like, we have got to share some of the most special memories of my life together, some of the greatest days, with the exception of getting married and having kids, I’ve shared with Chip Ganassi and Felix. It’s been great. Victory Lane at Daytona has been very special for us with the Daytona 500, and this is a big deal for me because these cars are so much different than what Kyle and I typically drive.”
McMurray certainly has his season started in the right direction, but can he keep it that way?
The 38-year-old will enter the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season with a subpar season in the rear-view with an 18th place finish in points. However, the seven top-fives and 13 top-10s give McMurary his second best single-season totals, and were better than the two seasons prior.
Beyond that, Chip Ganassi Racing has continued to improve their equipment, as evident by Larson’s success last year. Larson was up front contending for wins, posting top-fives by mid-season easily. Certainly right there proves that the equipment is there.
With the equipment there and improvement being shown, there’s no doubt that McMurray is headed in the right direction. But it should be noted that he should get there sooner rather than later as it says something in a not so positive light when your teammate runs stronger than you.
The other factor is that he will have a new crew chief as Keith Rodden makes the move to Hendrick Motorsports to work with Kasey Kahne. Now partnered with Matt McCall, the question will be how well the pair jell and whether that leads to success. McCall brings over some solid knowledge, though, having worked as the race engineer with Ryan Newman last year en route to finishing second in points.
So will McMurray reach victory lane this year? Thumbs up as he has won in season’s prior and the performance is there. Beyond that, he’s always one to watch on the restrictor plates given how he can put himself in position late in the race.
Can he contend for the championship? Not so fast, as first let’s focus on getting into the top-10 in points before we look at that possibility.
