NASCAR
Martin Truex Jr. Becomes Latest NASCAR Star to Be Honored at the ESPY Awards with Best Driver Award
2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Champion Martin Truex Jr. earned yet another prestigious award this week. At the annual ESPY Awards, Truex was voted as the Best Driver of the past year in the award ceremony to honor outstanding athletes. This comes as Truex had a career year in 2017, winning 8 races en route to his 1st Cup title.
Truex Beats Out Distinguished List of Nominees
Besides Truex, other nominees for Best Driver at the ESPY Awards represented recent champions in a variety of Motorsports. Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton, who won this award last year, was one of the nominees after his 4th World Championship. IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden and NHRA Drag Racing champion Brittany Force rounded out the nominees.
Martin Truex Jr and the 78 Furniture Row Racing team are more than deserving of this honor. In 2017, Truex scored 8 wins, 19 top 5s, 26 top 10s, 2253 laps led, and 19 stage wins. All of these stats led the Cup Series in 2017. However, this unprecedented success did not come without some setbacks. Martin’s longtime girlfriend, Sherry Pollex, had a relapse of ovarian cancer. Also, 78 team crew member Jim Watson passed away hours before a Playoff race at Kansas last year that Truex went on to win. Lastly, team owner Barney Visser was unable to attend the championship race, as he was recovering from a heart attack. In spite of all these hurdles, Truex won his 1st championship last November at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Other NASCAR Stars Honored at ESPY Awards
In the 26 year history of the ESPY Awards, a NASCAR driver has won Best Driver an amazing 17 times. Hendrick Motorsports drivers Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson both have a record 4 wins in this category.
Perhaps no NASCAR star had a larger presence at this year’s ESPY Awards than Danica Patrick. The former racer made history this year by becoming the first female host of the ESPYs. Patrick, 36, retired from racing this season after competing in both the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500.
Truex is far from the 1st NASCAR Cup Series Champion to become a Best Driver at the ESPY Awards. In their respective championship seasons, both Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch won this award. Truex’s win marks the 3rd for a NASCAR driver in the last 4 years.
