This tribute to life on the road was released as the lead single from Gavin DeGraw's fifth studio album. Co-written by the singer and Boys Like Girls frontman Martin Johnson (who also produced the track), the song moves to the rhythm of a brisk stomping beat. "I'm sitting in the room with Martin Johnson, the guy I'd been writing with before who's really gifted, and he's like, 'Hey man, what do you think of this track?'" DeGraw recalled to Billboard magazine. "He just starts playing this jangle-y, uptempo kind of thing, which ultimately was the foundation for 'Best I Ever Had.'" The song was released to radio and digital retailers on June 18, 2013.

The song's official music video finds McGraw getting close to the 2013 Miss USA titleholder, Erin Brady.

The song started as a crazy drum beat in the studio over which Johnson encouraged DeGraw to adopt a stream of consciousness approach for his vocals. He began to sing "Melt Antarctica, savin' Africa. I failed algebra" and Johnson added, "And I miss you sometimes." "I laughed because it was so off the wall, but at the same time that was the stroke that it needed," DeGraw told Radio.com. "The nature of the song, it almost didn't matter what we said. We had the freedom to say anything because the style and sound of the song, there's a bit of a beatnik Americana thing happening in there even though it's been modernized. It lets you be a little bit nutty as far as being a lyricist is concerned. It is very freeing."