NASCAR
Most Recent Cup Series Winner Truex Jr. is Still a 2024 Free Agent
After claiming a dominant win at New Hampshire on Monday, Martin Truex Jr. was asked once again about his status on racing next year. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has been mulling over potential retirement all season. To this point, he has yet to give a definitive answer one way or the other.
Truex went through a similar crossroads last season, only to announce a one-year contract extension at Nashville in June. The current Cup Series points leader was quite telling on his future endeavors when pressed about it again in Loudon.
“I don’t know, I’m not sure,” Truex said. “You know, I was talking out there to Claire, and I was like, this sport isn’t exactly what it appears to be sometimes. It takes a big commitment.”
“My team is amazing. They deserve the very best driver, the guy that wants it more than anyone else, and I’ve been that guy. I want to make sure that if I come back, I’m willing to do that. It takes a lot. It’s not just show up at the track, drive the car, go home. It takes a lot. It takes a lot of commitment. It’s a lot of travel. A lot of time missing things with family and friends and all those things that I’ve done for 25 years. Do I want to keep doing it and am I willing to sacrifice all those things again for my team?”
“So that’s just what I’m thinking about. I don’t know that running good and winning makes a difference. It would be pretty awesome to win the championship and walk off into the sunset.”
“I just don’t really know. I don’t really know. I’m bad at making big decisions. I told somebody out there, I was like, I’ve been looking at salt water boats for five, six years. Love to fish, spend a lot of time on the water, and I haven’t pulled the trigger on a boat because I just can’t make up my mind on what I want. I’m just bad at big decisions.”
“I finally am about to buy (a boat) maybe this week. I wish I had more time to figure out what I want to do next year, but I don’t. So I’ll know soon and you’ll know soon.”
From one end of these contract talks to another, team owner Joe Gibbs is also eager to know Truex’s fate.
“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 racecars. Come on.
“But no, we haven’t. I think it is, though, very important for us to kind of have some pressure here because it’s pressure for all of us. It’s a huge deal for us.
“I’m hoping, I really felt like he’s having such, I think, a great year, and I think he’s having fun. So I’m hoping that we get a good answer for us here.”
Through 20 races in the 2023 season, Truex boasts three trips to victory lane and a 17-point championship lead. Driver 19 is positioned very well to battle for a second title this fall.
Should Martin Truex Jr. decide to step away from NASCAR at the end of this season, he has more than earned the right to make this call. The 2017 Cup Series Champion now has 34 wins to his name, tied for 25th most all-time. Add onto that achievements list two Xfinity championships and five Championship 4 appearances. Truex is of little doubt a future first-ballot NASCAR Hall of Famer. MTJ could easily add a second title at year’s end as well. Truex currently has 19 years of Cup Series competition under his belt, a timespan matched by Jimmie Johnson when he retired.
At 43 years old, Truex is still very much at the top of his game as an elite NASCAR driver. In spite of this, no high level of competition can be permanently guaranteed. Jeff Gordon stepped away at age 44, Johnson and Tony Stewart both at 45. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 43 in his final season, and Kevin Harvick is currently 47.
The one outlier among retirements is ironically enough a former driver of the JGR No. 19–Carl Edwards. He stepped away suddenly following the 2016 season, when he was only 38 years old. That decision came after Edwards was painfully close to that year’s Cup Series title, only to be wrecked out of the final race.
If Truex does conclude that 2023 will be his final season, then he has the rare chance to walk away as a champion. Likewise, John Hunter Nemechek is positioned nicely to take over the No. 19 ride. The current JGR Xfinity driver has four wins already this year, including the last two races.
It should be expected to get an answer soon from Truex. Look no further than last season with Kyle Busch’s contract woes; Busch to RCR was announced in September. Unlike with Edwards, Joe Gibbs Racing likely cannot afford to wait until the offseason for a bombshell announcement. By the time the Playoffs arrive, Truex ideally will have his mind made up on whether he stays or goes for 2024. Until then, the JGR No. 19 and a future Hall of Famer are the biggest silly season question remaining.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Meg Oliphant/Getty Images for NASCAR
