Jamie McMurray on NASCAR Career: ‘My Biggest Regret is Not Enjoying it’

Jamie McMurray was able to race 16 full-time seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series and become a broadcaster in the aftermath of that run. With that said, he has a sincere career regret.

“I wish I could do everything backwards, and what I mean by that is I wish I could’ve done TV first because if I could have, when I went back to my career, I would’ve handled things completely different, whether it was interviews or what I found value in or seeing the other side of it. At the same time, my biggest regret in racing is not enjoying it,” McMurray told host Kevin Harvick on the latest edition of “Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour.” “When you’re go-karting, even though your dad’s yelling at you, it’s still fun. You’re hanging out with your buddies. Even in racing, you weren’t trying to put food on the table your last year, but you want to win. And you get mad because someone else made a mistake, and it’s your name on the door.

“That’s the one thing about being the driver or the crew chief, your name is there, and if there’s an issue, that’s who they blame, initially. There’s very few people in professional anything, whether it’s racing – I don’t care what sport it is – that have fun.”

McMurray won just the second NASCAR race that he appeared in, winning the UAW-GM Quality 500 at then-Lowe’s Motor Speedway in 2002. He made his full-time debut at the Cup Series level with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2003. After three seasons at Chip Ganassi Racing, McMurray joined Roush Fenway Racing, with whom he won his first career race as a full-time driver in 2007.

McMurray embarked on a reunion of sorts in 2010, joining Earnhardt Ganassi Racing and winning a career-high three races, including the Daytona 500, in said season. The 2018 Cup Series season would be McMurray’s last as a full-time driver on the NASCAR circuit, with him later racing in the 2019 and 2021 runnings of the Daytona 500 for Spire Motorsports.

McMurray joined FOX Sports as a NASCAR Analyst for the 2019 season, serving as a fixture on “NASCAR RaceDay” and previously on “NASCAR Race Hub.” He also previously served as a color commentator for NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races on FS1. The 2025 season was McMurray’s seventh with FOX Sports.

McMurray won seven career races in the NASCAR Cup Series, while placing 63 top-five finishes and 168 top-10 finishes.

Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!