NEWTON, Iowa — Unlike previous seasons, Martin Truex Jr. knew it was time. After years of internally battling when the correct time was to hang up his racing helmet on a full-time basis, that will come at the conclusion of the 2024 Cup Series season.
“Something just felt different this year for me,” Truex said during a press conference on Friday at Iowa Speedway. “I wanted to slow down and do something else. It’s been a great ride, though.”
Joe Gibbs Racing has known for a few weeks that 2024 was going to be Truex’s final hoorah in Cup. When team owner Joe Gibbs needed an answer, he could see the direction it was heading.
“I did everything I could to keep it going,” Gibbs said in his opening remarks. “It was always up to Martin. We’ve talked over the years and thought about things. I think it was different this year. I could kind of tell when I called him to get the final result, he was totally relaxed. I could read that in him.”
Currently ranking fifth in the regular season championship standings, Truex is tied with Kurt Busch for 25th on the all-time win’s list, taking the checkered flag a lofty 34 times. Thirty-two of those have come in the last decade, and 15 since joining Joe Gibbs Racing ahead of the 2019 season. Preceding his tenure with JGR, Truex joined an elite company, winning the 2017 Cup championship with Furniture Row Racing.
Reflecting upon his career, Truex is content with the effort he put forth. He bolted onto the scene with Chance 2 Motorsports, owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., winning the 2004 and 2005 Xfinity Series championships. It took him 58 starts into his Cup career before picking up his first triumph at Dover Motor Speedway.
“I would say that I’ve achieved more than I ever thought I would,” Truex added. “There are a lot of heartbreakers and a lot of things you go back and think about like, ‘Man, if that would have turned out different.’ A championship, three runner ups in this format. I feel like that’s pretty good. I’m proud of what I’ve done, and I gave it everything I had. I feel like I was really, really good at what I did. I’m happy with that. I feel good about this.”
Truex has been the definition of consistent over the last decade. In 2015, he led Furniture Row to a surprise appearance in the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Truex made Championship 4 appearances fives times over a seven-year span. He won the regular season championship just last season.
So why, at what appears to still be the peak of Truex’s career, would he want to retire?
“It’s as simple as not having a crazy schedule of 40 weekends at a race track,” Truex stated. “That’s part of it. I don’t know exactly what I’m going to be doing away from the race track, aside from the fun stuff that I like to do. Hunting, fishing, hanging out with friends. Everyone in my family that’s ever been married, I’ve missed their wedding. You don’t have a life. You are married to racing. It’s all you do Monday to Sunday. It’s going to be interesting to live a normal life for a little while and see what that’s like. I’ve never done that.”
Along for the ride dating back to Truex’s stint in the Xfinity Series was his longtime sponsor Bass Pro Shops. The company has partnered with the avid outdoorsman dating back to 2004.
Morris said, “Just be happy and know you’ve made all of us so happy and so proud and I wanted to come here, not just for me, but for everybody in the Bass Pro Shops family, our dealers, everybody. Just to say thank you very much and congratulations on a heck of a run.”
The decision for Truex to stop racing full time admittedly came with hesitation. His conversation with Gibbs wasn’t as difficult as one might imagine because of their relationship. Ultimately, however, he didn’t want to feel like he let JGR down by putting himself first.
“I was leaning that way most of the season, but I wasn’t totally sure. It just took a while to think about,” Truex said. “It’s a big decision and affects not just me, it affects a lot of people. That’s the toughest part: you don’t want to let people down. In 21 years I’ve done this, I’ve never been late, never missed a practice, never been late for anything, never missed an appearance. You live your life by a schedule that someone else makes for you and it’s just time for me to make my own schedule.”
When the season wraps up at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 10, Truex hopes to go out on top, hoisting the Bill France Cup for a second time. He will miss his crew members and will remain a team ambassador for JGR moving forward.
Truex is confident that he will race again. He’s not sure when or where but would be open to competing in the Daytona 500. He also knows JGR has an established Xfinity program.
Denny Hamlin said he would be willing to field an open entry for Truex in the Daytona 500 for 23XI Racing if he decided to chase the Harley J. Earl Trophy.
“I told [Truex] that I would have his Daytona 500 car ready immediately,” Hamlin said. “I would 100% do that. Anytime Martin gets bored and wants to run Cup, we would have a seat for him.”
Truex enters Iowa with four consecutive finishes outside the top 10, and was running second on the final lap last weekend at Sonoma Raceway when he ran out of fuel. With 20 races remaining in what could be his Cup career, he has 146 top-five finishes in 673 starts (21.7%) and 287 top 10s (42.6%).