McMurray's quiet consistency another sign of Ganassi progress

While much continues to be said and written about Chip Ganassi Racing's Kyle Larson, the organization's other driver, Jamie McMurray, has been putting together a consistent season of his own.

"Yeah, it's been a really good year," McMurray told RACER. "There really hasn't been a race that we haven't had a great car. I feel like we've probably done a little better as the stages have helped us, we've gathered a lot of points in those, so that's been good. But our cars have been really fast all year long, at really every race. So, I'm super happy with everything."

McMurray enters the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (Sunday, 2 p.m. ET, Fox) sitting seventh in points. He is four points behind 2014 Cup champion, Kevin Harvick. Atop the standings is Larson, who won two months ago at Auto Club Speedway and has put together a 6.4 average finish in nine races.

Aside from Martinsville where he crashed out early, McMurray has also been a presence near the front of the field earning five top-10 finishes. Even better, with NASCAR offering driver's additional points this year under its stage racing format, McMurray has been the driver who has thus far earned the sixth-most stage points (68).

"We've just been better everywhere," McMurray said. "The mile-and-a-half program is the most important, and for the No. 1 car, that's probably where we've made our biggest gains. I didn't think we ran as well at Martinsville as what we have in the past, but then Phoenix and Richmond were both really good. The mile-and-a-half's though, to me, are where we really picked it up."

With Chip Ganassi Racing on the rise, McMurray says the relationship between he and Larson hasn't changed. For better or worse. Both have easy-going personalities and are easy to talk to. Just as the teams work closely together, Larson has admitted to being able to pick the brain of his veteran teammate.

This season is also the third full year McMurray has worked with crew chief Matt McCall (pictured, with McMurray), who joined Ganassi from an engineering role at Richard Childress Racing. Atop the pit box, McCall has flourished and is one of the reasons for McMurray and company continues to trend upward.

"Matt's done an awesome job," McMurray said of their relationship and progression. "His work ethic is just as good as you could ask of anyone. When you're a crew chief, it's about gathering that group of guys around you, and he has done a really good job of getting a great group of people gathered up. We just have all around a really good team."

McMurray starts 23rd in the GEICO 500.