“I felt terrible for him because I knew he was wasted talent. I knew he was wasting his good years not being in a good situation,” Dale Earnhardt Jr had said about Martin Truex Jr. when the latter had gone from Dale Earnhardt Inc. to Michael Waltrip Racing, earning just two victories in his first eight seasons at the NASCAR Cup Series level. Indeed, the career of the No. 19 driver of Joe Gibbs Racing has never lacked abrupt turns and twists. Along similar lines, his entry to this year’s playoff was no less dramatic.

He crashed out on the third lap of the Southern 500 in Darlington in the last race of the regular season. Truex clinched a spot in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs after Chris Buescher failed to get any stage points. The top 10 finishers in each stage earn points. So, after announcing his retirement in June, He secured a spot in the playoffs as the lowest seed, 16th. This is not how the veteran would have wanted to start his final campaign. But it just hasn’t been his year.

The #19 hasn’t won a race all season so far and has faced challenges with consistency, having achieved just one top-10 finish since June and no top-5 finishes since May, which was a P4 at the Kansas Speedway. The 2017 Cup Series champion is looking for his second title. But is struggling to come out of the slump. His last two races ended in a DNF – first at Darlington and then at the recent Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Truex looked good in the first playoff race this year, but it all came crashing down as Chris Buescher took him out. Recently, the radio conversation of Truex Jr surfaced showing signs of frustration at his team during the Quaker State 400 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

JGR becomes a villain from Saviour for Martin Truex Jr?

The day kicked off with a tough start. Joe Gibbs Racing struggled in qualifying, with Denny Hamlin way off the pace and last because of a wiring issue in his engine. The #19, who had qualified 22nd, also faced setbacks. The team made some unapproved adjustments to the plug wires for Truex Jr and Ty Gibbs, which pushed them both to the back, along with Hamlin.

Yet Truex Jr made a strong push, gaining more than twenty spots in the first 60-lap stage. At the end of stage 1, MTJ was in the 9th position and finished the stage with crucial points. He got hit with a speeding penalty during the pit stop, sending him back to the rear again. However, the veteran climbed back up to 8th in stage two. But he faced some problems, and his car lost pace, rapidly dropping his position to 19th by the end of stage 2. This results in him expressing his frustration on the radio saying, “Drives like complete (expletive), and it’s slow how can we be so slow and it drives bad?”

His frustration is understandable! His car was also slow in qualifying and then gains in the race. After all, MTJ wouldn’t want his last NASCAR career to have a poor end owing to the slow speed of his car. However, the speed issue was specific to his Toyota Camry XSE. As his fellow JGR driver, Christopher Bell finished 4th as well as the other Toyotas reported no speed-related issues.

Eventually, his luck ran out just over a hundred laps later when he was caught up in an incident on lap 206. Chris Buescher lost control and over-corrected, slamming into Ryan Blaney. As Blaney spun, the #19, who was right behind, crashed into him and suffered significant damage. Buescher took responsibility for the crash. Although Martin was furious at JGR, Joe Gibbs has high regards for him.

Joe Gibbs has been Truex’s team owner since 2019. He brought Truex in-house when Barney Visser closed the doors of Furniture Row Racing. Truex has won 15 more races in a Gibbs car and made the championship race twice. “He had earned his way up in NASCAR, particularly at the Cup Series level, and really struggled through some years and paid a price. I think it says a lot about Martin. He paid a big price of struggling through some of the things drivers go through to get to the top level,” Joe Gibbs had said about Martin.

Martin initially had a tumultuous stint with Michael Waltrip Racing (2010-2014). He landed at Furniture Row Racing in 2014. Martin’s career saw an uptick from that point. The highlighting moment was aligning with Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing in 2016. Gibbs was not surprised to see Martin’s dominance with the right car. He set a record in 2016 when he led 392 of 400 laps in the Coca-Cola 600. He went on to add the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway later that year. “He’s got real talent,” Gibbs declared.

His lashing out at JGR is one more interesting twist in Martin’s otherwise dramatic career, considering it is the team that gave him the vehicle he needed. Martin is now placed in the 15th position in playoff rankings. He is 19 points below the cut-off line, facing the possibility of being the first one out of the playoffs. However, not all hopes are lost. The next race is Watkins Glen, a strong track for MTJ!

Martin Truex Jr’s chances in the playoffs

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The recent playoffs have not been ideal for the veteran. Truex Jr. had a disappointing 2022 season, marked by a lack of playoff qualification and a winless streak, his first since 2014. This marked a significant downturn for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. After a disappointing 2022 season, Truex Jr considered retiring.

Eventually, he decided to give it another shot and had a strong comeback year in 2023. He won three races and reached the second round of the playoffs, tied with William Byron.

Despite his early success, Truex Jr. wasn’t able to make it to the final eight. He faced challenges in the remaining playoff races, with five finishes outside the top 15. In the current season, the next race is at Watkins Glen, a track where Truex Jr. has historically performed well. He has raced there 17 times throughout his career, winning once in 2017. In recent years, Truex Jr. has consistently finished in the top five at Watkins Glen, suggesting he has a good chance of success in this upcoming race. His last race finish at the track was in the 6th position.

As for the last race, in the round of 16, it’s Bristol Motor Speedway. The track surface led to very high tire wear in the last race in March, and at the end of it all, JGR had a photo finish with Denny Hamlin in P1 and Martin Truex Jr finished in the second position.

So there are hopes that he might get some much-needed points to progress to the round of 12. And keep his championship hopes alive. What do you think are his chances for a second championship? Let us know in the comments below.