Can Martin Truex Jr Win Again in 2023?

by
Peter Stratta
February 7, 2023

Photo Credit to Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR

Will 2023 See a Return to Martin Truex Jr’s Winning Ways?

After Sunday’s Busch Light Clash, Martin Truex Jr is a NASCAR winner again…sort of. While the Clash is only an exhibition race, it does mark the first win of any kind for the No. 19 Toyota in over a year. Can winning this preseason race lead to more trips to victory lane? Truex had some especially telling comments post-race that show he was not content with his winless 2022 season. Just how high is his 2023 competitive ceiling?

“[I’m] Mad. Just determined,” Truex said in describing how his demeanor was different over this offseason. “Just have a lot of fire in my belly to go out and change what we did last year.”

“If you look at all the statistics, we had a decent year. We were consistent. We scored a lot of points. We struggled on short tracks and road courses, which ultimately is what kept us out of the Playoffs.”

“Just so many times that we felt like we were doing the right things and probably should have won a couple races, and they got away from us. That was very, very frustrating. Knowing that we were doing everything we needed to do to win, it sucked. Just wanting to go out and show them what we can do. We’ve been very fired up this off-season, working very hard, all of us. It’s just nice when it all works out and you can come to the track and things go the way you hope they will. Hopefully we can do a lot more of that. We’ve got a lot going on good in our camp, at Toyota. I’ve got a great team, and I knew they were great last year, and we’ll just see how far we can go, but I feel really good about things. Fired up and excited, and it’s just a good feeling to be able to win a race, and even though it’s not points or anything, it’s just good momentum.”

While results say that Truex was 17th in 2022 points, that does not tell the whole story of his season. Truex was fifth in the standings at the end of the regular season, only missing the 16-man Playoffs by three mere points. His winless campaign also does not depict that the 19 was in position to win no fewer than five races, but bad luck prevented any victory.

Truex was asked if the Clash win was a statement performance and a potential sign of things to come for the 19.

“No, I just think for us it reminds us that we’re doing the right stuff and we can still go out and win any given weekend. We felt that way last year, but it never happened. You always get those questions, right, like are we fooling ourselves or whatever, but it’s just always nice when you finish the deal.”

“And racing is funny. We didn’t really change anything, the way we do stuff. We just tried to focus and buckle down and say, okay, these are things we’ve got to look at and work on, and that’s what we did, and we had a little fortune tonight. The 41 (Ryan Preece) was really strong. He had some issues. We’ve certainly been in that position a lot, as well. Not sure how that would have worked out if he didn’t have issues. He was really strong. Then like the restarts just worked our way. I was having tons of brake issues all night and throughout the second half of the race, so just lucky to be able to put it all together and hang on to those restarts and put it all together with the brake issues I was having.”

Exhibition race or not, Truex was not quick to dismiss the fact that any win helps team morale and belief that they can get it done on the biggest stage.

“It’s huge. It’s a huge confidence booster. Just reminds you that you’re doing the right stuff. Honestly, we were probably the worst car here last year, literally, besides maybe the guys that didn’t have charters. We were just God awful. We barely made the race. Rode around the back and I spun out by myself on the last lap it was so bad, you know, trying to pass one car. To come back this year and be first in practice, I was really honestly nervous last night. I went to bed thinking today was going to suck. It was going to be a long day because it’s going to be hard to pass and we were starting sixth in our heat on the outside. They only take five. It’s like, well, if you finish fifth you’re still going to suck in the race because you’re going to start 20th. To be able to drive up through the field in the heat and win that was just huge. It was a huge confidence builder. I knew after that if we could just be smart tonight and stay up front all night we’d have a shot at it. But it’s a big deal. Any of these races are hard to win. All of them are hard to win. Doesn’t matter if there’s points or not. We’re proud of this one. It’s a big deal.”

Without question Truex was the best car at the Clash, and that first showed in practice. Putting together an entire weekend-long effort is a big turnaround from the many woes the 19 team endured in 2022. No issues, self-inflicted or otherwise, kept MTJ from victory lane. This marked his first win since the Playoff race at Richmond in September 2021.

Lastly, Truex previewed the coming 2023 season for himself and the 19 crew and showed where their mindset is currently.

“You know, we’d like to win them all. We’re one-for-one right now, so that’s a good way to start. Daytona 500 is a huge race. It’s the biggest race of the year for us, and going there with momentum is great. Been really close there before; it would be an awesome one to check off the list.”

With all of this in mind, just how great will Truex and his Joe Gibbs Racing team be in 2023? MTJ was within eyesight of multiple wins in 2022, don’t expect that to change one bit. What should change however is Truex’s luck, as the apparent dark cloud that loomed over the 19 is hopefully gone. Since joining JGR in 2019, Truex has gone to victory lane 12 times. This includes a series-best nine wins in 2019, one in 2020, and four wins in 2021. Two or three wins is a reasonable expectation for Truex in 2023, as is a return to the Playoffs and title contention. Many of his best tracks fall within the first few weeks of the season, so the 19 could return to victory lane soon.