Jamie McMurray returns to the site of his most recent Sprint Cup victory this weekend when he and his No. 26 Ford roll into Daytona International Speedway.

The fact that victory came this weekend a year ago, and he's cracked the top 10 only five times since, doesn't worry McMurray much at all.

He was asked on a teleconference yesterday if he was concerned about his job at Roush Fenway Racing, where his contract ends after next season.

"No," McMurray said.

That's a lot of confidence for a driver who has made 89 starts for RFR and finished in the bottom half of the field (22nd or worse of 43 cars) 47 times, or 52.8 percent.

Those probably aren't the numbers Jack Roush had in mind when he picked up McMurray from Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates before the 2006 season and took on the option year of his deal with Ganassi.

McMurray will tell you he's had some bad luck, and that can't be denied. Most recently, he was running second two weeks ago at Sonoma when he was spun out by Kevin Harvick late in the race.

"Certainly at Michigan, if the caution flag doesn't come out, I'm racing Junior for the win there," McMurray said. "Sonoma, running second. If the caution doesn't come out, Harvick doesn't overdrive the corner and run into the back of us, you're going to run well there. We ran well this weekend [at Loudon].

"Cars have been really good. The whole team has really done their job. Almost all the things that are in our control we've done correctly. Just have not had -- we don't really need good luck; we just don't really need the bad luck right now."

His best hope for snapping out of it may come this weekend in the Coke Zero 400. McMurray won the race last year by .005 seconds and has finished eighth or better in the past three summer Daytona races.

The concern now becomes finishing a race where he believes he deserves to and avoiding the race incidents he says have derailed his season.

"When you race 99 percent of the race, you put yourself in the position to run well, and then you lose it all with two or three laps to go and it's something that's totally out of your control. . . . I mean, that's frustrating," McMurray said. "But that's part of racing. There's not a lot you can do about it. There's not really a place you could have put yourself in that that wouldn't have happened to you.

"You know, ultimately with racing, I think you have to focus on the things that are in your control. And if you do all those things correctly, sometimes you can't control the results of a race."

Almirola taking ride full time next season

Aric Almirola will take over the No.8 Chevrolet full time next season, and Mark Martin is expected to move to Hendrick Motorsports.

Hendrick will announce its 2009 plans for the No.5 in a press conference Friday at Daytona International Speedway. Martin is expected to drive the car, but it is not known whether that will be a full-time or part-time deal.

Almirola has shared a ride with Martin the past two seasons, but will become a full-time driver for Dale Earnhardt Inc. next season. Martin will drive 12 more races this year for DEI before making the move in 2009.