NASCAR: Jamie McMurray to drive for Spire Motorsports in 2019 Daytona 500
By Asher Fair
Jamie McMurray is set to drive for Spire Motorsports in the 2019 Daytona 500 despite the fact that he is no longer a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver.
For the first time since he drove part-time in the 2002 NASCAR Cup Series season, Jamie McMurray will not compete full-time in the Cup Series in the 2019 season. Most recently, he drove the #1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet from the 2010 season through the 2018 season, but he has been replaced by Kurt Busch for the 2019 season.
However, the 42-year-old Joplin, Missouri native is set to return to the Cup Series for the Daytona 500 to open up the 2019 season. McMurray is set to drive for Spire Motorsports in this 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Daytona International Speedway oval in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Spire Motorsports, the newest team in the Cup Series, are set to partner with Chip Ganassi Racing to field the #40 Chevrolet that McMurray is set to drive in this race.
The team confirmed this news on Twitter.
We’re excited to have @jamiemcmurray be our driver for the Daytona 500! Less than a month until this car hits the track, and we can’t wait. pic.twitter.com/udGKg8Sq3q
— Spire Sports + Entertainment (@SpireSportsEnt) January 18, 2019
Here is what McMurray had to say about the opportunity to drive for Spire Motorsports in the 2019 Daytona 500, according to NASCAR.
"“The Daytona 500 is the one race that every NASCAR driver would want to win. For the rest of your life you get to be introduced or recognized as a Daytona 500 champion. I’m excited to have the opportunity to potentially be a two-time winner of the race and it would mean so much to celebrate one more win with all of the great partners that have been with me for so many years.”"
Spire Motorsports are set to field the #77 Chevrolet on a full-time basis in the 2019 season after purchasing the charter that the now defunct Furniture Row Racing team used to field the #78 Toyota.
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However, the number 77 will only be used in a maximum of 35 of the season’s 36 races as a result of the fact that McMurray is set to drive the #40 Chevrolet in the Daytona 500. This news also means that the team will have more than one driver throughout the season, as McMurray will not drive for the team on a full-time basis.
McMurray, who won the Daytona 500 in 2010, has competed in the race in each of his 16 seasons as a full-time Cup Series driver, as he did not compete in it in the 2002 season when he drove for Chip Ganassi Racing in just six races, the first six races of his career.
Aside of his Daytona 500 victory in 2010, McMurray has never finished the race in the top 13. He has only finished it 10 times in 16 attempts, and he has done so in the top 20 just five times. He finished in 18th place in 2011, 14th in 2014, 17th in 2016 and 16th in 2018.
Heading into this year’s Daytona 500, which is the 61st annual running of the race, McMurray has competed in each of the last 580 Cup Series races that have been held going all the way back to the final four races of the 2002 season.
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Be sure to tune in to Fox at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 17 for the live broadcast of the 61st annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida to open up the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season.