NEWTON, Iowa — Thirteen years ago, I asked Martin Truex Jr. a question: Someday, when you hang up your helmet for the last time, what do you want people to remember about you? What do you want your retirement story to say about you?
“That I was a good competitor, I was a good driver and I didn’t leave anything on the table,” said Truex, then a 30-year-old without any gray in his beard. “At the end of the day, as long as I’m happy with what I’ve done, that’s the biggest thing. But just to have the respect of your peers and your competitors is important.”
It was a simple answer, but a revealing one. At the time, Truex had just one career NASCAR Cup Series victory in six seasons. He would later extend that mediocre-at-best start to his career by compiling just three total wins in 10 years.
Much has changed since then. Truex won the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series championship, during which he had one of the most impressive title runs in history (four wins and nine top-five finishes in 10 playoff races). He has won 34 Cup races, including three crown-jewel events.
Now, the Cup Series’ oldest current driver, Truex is a likely first-ballot Hall of Famer when he becomes eligible. His place in NASCAR history is secure.
But when Truex announced his retirement on Friday, effective at the end of the season, I asked him if those goals from our 2011 interview came to fruition.
“One hundred percent,” he said. “I’ve achieved more than I ever thought I would. A championship and three runner-ups in this (playoff) format — I feel like that’s really good.
“I’m proud of what I’ve done. I feel like I gave it everything I had, and I feel like I was really, really good at what I did. So I’m happy with that. I’m content. I feel good.”
Though there was a divide between the two halves of his career, the trophies never changed him. And that’s saying a lot, because there were plenty of trophies.
That’s been Truex all along, and the trophies never changed him. And that’s saying a lot, because there were plenty of trophies.
As it turned out, Truex had one of the best late-career runs in NASCAR history. Whereas many drivers see their statistics fall off in the final few years, Truex won 31 times in an eight-year stretch entering this season and made five appearances in NASCAR’s Championship 4. Last year, an industry panel compiled by The Athletic put him as the 30th-best NASCAR Cup Series driver of all time; but had Truex matched his late-career level of success in his first 10 years, he would have had the statistics to put him in the top 15.
From 2016 through today, no one has more wins than Truex’s 31. Not even Kyle Busch or Kevin Harvick (29 each). Not Denny Hamlin (28) or Kyle Larson (26), either. There’s a decent chance Truex will end his career still being able to make that claim, too.
When Truex had a great car, he often destroyed the field with it. His 2016 Coca-Cola 600 win, in which he led 392 of 400 laps, accounted for the most miles led (588) in a single race in NASCAR history. He also had races where he led 93 percent of the laps (Martinsville 2019), 85 percent of the laps (Darlington 2021) and 84 percent of the laps (New Hampshire 2023, his most recent victory).
While Truex has yet to win in 2024, he told me earlier this year he felt as sharp as ever. The decision to return for this season wasn’t officially made until late last summer, though Truex later acknowledged he was never seriously close to calling it quits. And as of March, he felt it was going to be “harder to stop doing this than I think.”
Martin Truex Jr. celebrates his 2017 Cup Series title. After winning just three races in his first 10 years, Truex has 31 since and is a surefire Hall of Famer. (Chris Trotman / Getty Images)
Why not? Truex had a sweet gig, with a better schedule than any other driver. He has recently split time between New Jersey and Florida, well outside of the NASCAR bubble, and has few obligations during the week. He spends many of his days fishing and is able to turn his phone off and disconnect in between races, for the most part.
But it became clear Joe Gibbs Racing needed an answer much earlier this year, and the team was potentially going to miss out on the top free-agent candidates if Truex dragged his feet until August. The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi has reported outgoing Stewart-Haas Racing driver Chase Briscoe is the top target to replace Truex, but there was no guarantee Briscoe would still be available in a month.
And Truex has always been a team-first guy, which was partially why he was so respected internally. Outside his own organization, Truex developed a reputation for being one of the fairest, cleanest racers of his generation.
Few others share his philosophy these days, a change in driver code which Truex has openly resented. He understands why others race dirtier when parity forces drivers to seize every potential spot while they have the chance, but it has made him shake his head and long for the old days.
“You can still race clean; I feel like I do,” he said in February. “You can still be fair. You can still not make dumb— moves. But I don’t know how to stop (bad moves) from happening.”
When I asked Truex in 2010 how long he saw his career lasting, the response was again a simple one.
“If I’m still having fun and I’m competitive and I know I have what it takes to run up front, I’ll probably stay around,” he replied then. “If I feel like I lose that someday, then maybe I won’t. If I stopped enjoying it, obviously I’d look at doing something else. For now, I can’t really see the end of my road.”
Nearly a decade and a half later, the end of the road is in sight; it’s 20 races away, and it will take less than five months to get there. But regardless of what happens in the final laps of his career, it’s certain Truex will walk away with the respect he always craved.
GO DEEPER
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(Top photo of Martin Truex Jr. last month at the Coca-Cola 600: Logan Riely / Getty Images)
