Filed under: Jamie McMurray, Sprint Cup
Since his emotional victory in the Daytona 500 Sunday,
Jamie McMurray has been on a nonstop, coast-to-coast roller coaster ride of public appearances, television shows and other activities that are the exclusive privilege and responsibility of winners of NASCAR's biggest race.
"I don't know that I've ever been recognized," McMurray said Tuesday from New York on the weekly NASCAR teleconference.
"I can't believe in just the 24 hours that I've been here the amount of people that have found me and have brought their
USA Today paper up and had me sign it. I can't believe how popular that race is and how, by winning it, how many people realize who you are all of a sudden."
But after trips to New York and San Francisco, the long week eventually winds down, and come Friday, he'll be back at the race track at California Speedway, preparing for race number two in a long season full of opportunity and potential disappointment.
in fact, over the past 15 years, the winner of The Great American Race has usually not been the driver who, at the end of the season, hoists NASCAR's biggest trophy for winning the Sprint Cup championship. Likewise, the eventual season champion often has a largely unremarkable finish in the 500.
Just two drivers -- Jimmie Johnson in 2006 and Jeff Gordon in 1997 -- have hoisted both the Harley J. Earl trophy in Daytona's victory lane and the championship trophy at the end of the year. Otherwise, the 500 winners haven't really come close. Dale Jarrett, who won the 500 in 1996, and Sterling Marlin, 1995's winner, came the closest to taking NASCAR's ultimate double with 3rd-place points finishes after winning at Daytona.
The average points finish of the 15 Daytona 500 winners since 1995 is an unremarkable 10th. Ward Burton, the winner in 2002 after a crazy finish that saw Sterling Marlin try to fix his damaged front fender during a late red flag while leading, had the worst points finish (25th) in the measured span.
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