- Martin Truex Jr. started his Cup career in 2004 and has been with Joe Gibbs Racing since 2019.
- He won the 2017 title when he was with Furniture Row Racing.
- This season he has 3 wins and is currently the top JGR driver in the point standings.
Martin Truex Jr. says he will return to the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in 2024, but the 43-year-old driver notes his NASCAR Cup career will continue on a year-to-year basis.
Truex says continuing his career in 2024 “just felt like the right thing to do.”
“The more I thought about it, the more I was like ‘Don’t be stupid. Go race another year and see how it goes,’” Truex said Saturday at Michigan International Speedway site of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race. “It didn’t feel right to not come back and keep doing what we are doing. (I’m) excited to get that out of the way and continue to work on this year and excited for next year as well.”
With four races remaining in the Cup Series regular season, Truex leads JGR teammate Denny Hamlin by 39 points for the NASCAR Cup title. He also has added three victories to his racing resume this year along with one pole, eight top-five and 12 top-10 finishes in 22 events. He’s currently tied with Joey Logano for 28th on the all-time victory list with 31.
“Honestly, I’ve been leaning that way for a couple of weeks,” Truex says about his decision. “I kept thinking about it and seeing if something changed and nothing changed. It’s pretty late in the season to be putting them (JGR) in a spot where you keep them hanging. I think I did that as long as possible. Not on purpose, but it is just how it worked out.”
After Truex won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July, team owner Joe Gibbs asked the media in his post-race press conference to talk to Truex for him.
“He tells me the same thing every year, that I’m right in the middle of trying to make this decision,” Gibbs said. “I go, come on, what are you talking about, man? You’re making money, you’re having fun, you’re driving race cars.”
Truex, whose contracts normally only run for a single year, noted he reached his decision in June last year, that it came in August this year, so realistically, he said with a laugh, it should be expected in October in 2024.
“You are not going to half-ass this job,” Truex says. “We’ve got a great thing going. My team is amazing.”
Crew chief James Small is part of the reason Truex says he made his decision to continue.
“He was like, ‘Let’s go get them this year and next year and figure it out from there,’” Truex says about Small’s reaction when he informed him of his decision.
The 2017 NASCAR Cup champion says he signed his contract for 2024 Friday night before Sunday’s Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
Truex’s younger brother Ryan is part of the deal. This year, Ryan is driving in a limited number of Xfinity races for JGR. In six Xfinity races this season, the 31-year-old Truex has recorded three top-five finishes, including a victory at Dover in April. His finishes in the other three races have been 12th, 17th and 35th. Darlington is the only race he failed to finish due to an accident after completing 68 laps.
“He will be running part-time, but, obviously, it would be great if we could get him a full-time deal,” Truex says. “We are looking for sponsorship to do a full year.”
Read the full article here