Story courtesy Bob Priddy:

Joplin NASCAR driver Jamie McMurray has shown little rust in his return to the track for the first time in two years and has raced way into the top half of the starting field for Sunday’s Daytona 500.

McMurray finished tenth in one of the two sixty-lap qualifying races that sets starting positions for Sunday’s first race of the year. He will start 19th Sunday, inside the tenth row. He’ll be driving for Spire Motorsports, a team that uses cars supplied by Chip Ganassi Racing, for whom McMurray drove his last complete season in 2018. He returned for the 2019 Daytona 500 and since then has been part of FOX’s in-studio team.

McMurray won the Daytona 500 in 2010, his best season. He also won the Brickyard 400 that year at Indianapolis and a fall race at Charlotte.