NEWTON, Iowa — A fisherman’s son, who followed his dad into racing and undoubtedly will be selected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame one day, Martin Truex Jr. announced Friday that he will not race full-time after this season.
“I will not be back full-time next year,” Truex said Friday at Iowa Speedway in a room that included teammates Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs. “Its been a hell of a ride.”
Said car owner Joe Gibbs: “I did everything I could to keep it going.”
As for why, Truex said: “It felt like the right time for me. I thought about it a lot the past few seasons. Waited for that feeling in my mind to be positive.”
Truex said he has known for a few weeks that this would be his final full-time Cup season.
“It’s a big decision,” he said. “It affects a lot of people. That’s the toughest part. You don’t want to let people down.
“In 21 years that I’ve done this, I’ve never missed never missed a race. I’ve never missed a practice. I’ve never been late for anything. I’ve never missed an appearance.
“You live your life by a schedule that somebody makes for you and it’s just time for me to make my own schedule. It’s really as simple as that. ... I want to go do the things I want to do. I don’t want anybody to tell me when I can and when I can’t do those things.
“I still love racing. I’m still going to race some. What, when, how, why, I don’t know any of that yet, but I’m going to figure that out.”
Truex hinted at the possibility of running in Xfinity races when he gets the itch to do so and would be up to race in the Daytona 500 again — a race that he has never won.
“He’ll be setting his own schedule and doing whatever he wants to do,” Gibbs said.
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- Dustin Long,
- Dustin Long,
Gibbs said that Truex would be an ambassador for the team next year and hinted about maybe getting Truex in some type of car in the future.
Truex won the 2017 Cup championship and finished second in points in 2018 and 2019 concluding a three-year stretch that saw him win 19 of 108 points races (17.5%) with Cole Pearn as his crew chief at Furniture Row Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing. Truex finished in the top 10 in 65.7% of those races in that three-year stretch.
Truex also finished second in the points in 2021. He enters this weekend’s inaugural Cup race at Iowa Speedway with 34 series wins. Sunday night’s race (7 p.m. ET on USA Network) will be his 665th consecutive in the series. He passed Jimmie Johnson last weekend for sixth on the all-time list.
He was known for dominating wins, including leading 392 of 400 laps when he won the 2016 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Truex, who turns 44 on June 29, ran his first full-time season in NASCAR in 2004, winning the championship in what is now the Xfinity Series as a rookie. He was driving for Chance 2 Motorsports, the team co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Teresa Earnhardt. Truex followed that championship by winning the crown the following season. He never ran full-time in Xfinity again.
He has been in Cup since 2006.
Gibbs declined to say what the team will do to replace Truex in the No. 19 car beyond this season, rather focusing on Truex’s announcement
“We’re still working on all that,” Gibbs said.
NASCAR President Steve Phelps said in a statement: “Martin Truex Jr. has been a consistent figure over the last two-plus decades in NASCAR – a consistent winner, champion and fan-favorite. Though he especially excelled on NASCAR’s biggest stages, Martin performed his craft with a quiet tenacity, allowing his immense success tell his incredible story. On behalf of the France Family and all of NASCAR, I congratulate Martin on a wonderful career and wish him the best of luck for the remainder of his final fulltime season.”
David Wilson, president of Toyota Racing Development, said in a statement:
“Martin has been a fierce competitor, champion and loyal friend to Toyota and TRD for over a decade. He is the only NASCAR driver to win Cup races in a Toyota Camry across three different race team organizations – a remarkable achievement.
“His genuine personality and consistent performance have made him a fan favorite and someone who will truly be missed on-track each week. Martin’s racing achievements highlight just how talented of a racer he is, and his outstanding work off-track with the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation showcases the incredible person he continues to be. Martin is a future Hall of Famer, and someone we will always be honored to call a part of the Team Toyota family.”
