In 1999, McMurray made 4 starts in the Craftsman Truck series. In 2000, he ran 15 Craftsman Truck races and posted 1 top-five and 4 top-ten finishes.
In 2001 and
2002, he competed full-time in the NASCAR Busch Series, driving the #27 Williams Travel Centers
Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Brewco Motorsports. The latter year turned out better for McMurray, as he won two races and finished sixth in the overall points standings.
Before the fall race at Richmond in 2002,
Chip Ganassi announced McMurray as the driver of a Texaco-Havoline sponsored Dodge in 2003. Those plans were accelerated when
Sterling Marlin fractured a
vertebra at the NEXTEL Cup Race at
Kansas Speedway. He made his Cup debut filling in for Marlin at Talladega and one week later in just his second career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup start, Jamie McMurray outduelled
Bobby Labonte to win the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, NC, setting the record for the fastest first time winner in NASCAR history. He was the last driver to win a NNCS race and not race the next week as
Mike Bliss drove the #40 Coors Light Dodge at Martinsville Speedway while McMurray had a commitment to race NBS in Memphis.
In 2003, McMurray became a NEXTEL Cup regular. He won the NASCAR Winston Cup (now NEXTEL Cup) Rookie of the Year competition by 37 points over
Greg Biffle. McMurray had 5 top-5s for the year and finished 13th overall. He began competing part-time in the Busch Series.
In
2004, McMurray and his team were penalized 25 points after the
Food City 500 for an incorrect "x-measurement," which proved costly when, later in the year, McMurray missed the Chase for the Cup by 15 points. However, he had 23 top-10s during the season, including 12 in the last 14 races, and finished 11th in the points standings, which earned him a $1 million bonus. Had he made the Chase for the Championship, he would have been Champion. He won a
Craftsman Truck Series race, joining a short list of drivers that have won a race in all three of NASCAR's top touring series (Craftsman Truck, Busch, and NEXTEL Cup).
McMurray left the #42 team after the
2005 season to drive the #26 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing. Owner Chip Ganassi was initially adamant that McMurray would not be released for 2006. However, on
November 7, 2005, McMurray was released from his contract. McMurray was originally supposed to go to the #6 Ford in 2007, but since
Kurt Busch was released after an off-track incident, and
Mark Martin announced he would race for another year, Jamie instead took over for
Kurt Busch in the #97 Ford (which was renumbered #26). McMurray's contract with Roush Fenway Racing is one of the richest in
NASCAR history with a guaranteed salary of $20 million dollars per year plus bonuses.
