Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Coming off a spectacular 2010 season where he and his team won three races including the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400, Jamie McMurray seemed like a certain pick to make the field for NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup. Unfortunately for McMurray and his Bass Pro Shops, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team, 2011 proved to be a nightmare year where McMurray was not competitive to even finish in the top 10 in most races.
Indications as to how the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup season would go for the one team came early on in the season. McMurray was unable to score a finish better than 20th until the sixth event at Martinsville where McMurray won the pole and ended the day in seventh position. After a string of three events where McMurray finished no better than 19th, he scored his second top 10 of the year with a ninth place run at Darlington in the Showtime Southern 500. The bright spot of the season for the EGR team came at Indianapolis where McMurray finished a season best fourth in the race he won the previous season. McMurray's final top 5 and top 10 of the year came four races later at Bristol with a fifth place effort.
McMurray was penalized five times in 2011 for pitting before the pits were open, a sign that his poor finishes on the year had more to do with the handling of the race car rather than getting swept up in on track incidents. McMurray did a good job most of the season when it came to not breaking the pit road speed rules as he earned only two penalties all year long. In addition, he was penalized once for pitting out of order. The Bass Pro Shops team did their job in the pits for most of the year too, only receiving two penalties in 2011, one for loose lug nuts and the other for letting equipment get loose from their pit box.
2011 Statistics For Jamie McMurray
27th in Sprint Cup standings
2 top 5s
4 top 10s
Best Finish: 4th in the Brickyard 400
106 laps led
2011 Penalty Report For Jamie McMurray
Race 4 - Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field; Pitting out of order, Tail of Field
Race 6 - Lug nut(s) not installed, Must Come In
Race 7 - Pitting before pit road is open, tail end
Race 12 - Pitting before pit road is open, Garage
Race 13 - Outside half of the pit box tire violation/Team member not in contact with the outside tires, pass thru
Race 27 - Pitting before pit road is open, Garage
Race 28 - Speed-Entering pits, tail end
Race 32 - Pitting before pit road is open, tail end
Race 35 - Speed-Entering pits, tail end