Yahoo Sports Jamie McMurray to move to broadcast role with Fox in 2019
Jamie McMurray’s Cup Series career appears to have one more race left.
McMurray will become a studio analyst for Fox’s NASCAR coverage in 2019 after he likely races in the Daytona 500. McMurray is being replaced in the No. 1 car at Chip Ganassi Racing by Kurt Busch. Ganassi had offered McMurray a one-off deal for the Feb. 17 race in lieu of a full-season contract in 2019 and McMurray is expected to take the deal.
“As my driving career got closer to the end, I thought about doing TV but wasn’t sure until I did a couple of NASCAR Race Hub shows at the end of this year,” McMurray said in a Fox statement. “I really enjoyed it more than I expected. It’s a whole new world, but that’s what I am most excited about – the new challenge and discomfort that comes with doing something completely out of my element.”
McMurray, 42, made his Cup debut in 2002 as he replaced the injured Sterling Marlin. He won in his second-career start at Charlotte, leading 96 of the race’s 334 laps as he had two top-10 finishes in the final six races of the season.
He’s raced in every Cup Series race since that assignment replacing Marlin and has won just six other times in 16 seasons. His best year came in 2010 when he won the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400 and at Charlotte again in the fall. He didn’t make the playoffs, however, and finished 14th in the standings.
His final victory came at Talladega in 2013. McMurray made the playoffs from 2015-17 but missed out in 2018 and finished 20th.
Daytona will be McMurray’s 583rd Cup Series start and he’s never finished in the top 10 in the points standings throughout his career. Only Michael Waltrip and Joe Nemechek have run more Cup races without a top-10 points finish.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
Follow @NickBromberg on Twitter
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