Joe Gibbs Racing currently fields the two most veteran drivers in the active Cup racing field. But the number will soon be cut down. After two years of dilly-dallying, Martin Truex Jr is ready to hang up his firesuit for the last time. The 19 years of inspiration and mentorship he has provided to his peers are remarkable, as Denny Hamlin agrees.

Martin Truex Jr has accumulated 34 Cup wins since 2006, along with a 2017 championship title. His first Cup decade was uneventful, gathering only three wins. Yet the time that followed made jaws drop in the Cup garage, and Hamlin believes that Truex was an exemplary beacon of light for him.

Hamlin attributes his prowess to Martin Truex Jr

Martin Truex Jr burst onto the NASCAR scene with a bang, and snatched consecutive Xfinity championships in 2004 and 2005, driving for the now-defunct Chance 2 Motorsports. A drab streak followed his Cup Series debut, as he drove for Dale Earnhardt, Inc., and Michael Waltrip Racing until 2013. But the winds of change came when Truex joined Furniture Row Racing in 2014.

MTJ started beating his rivals from 2016 onwards, as he had a good car and almost destroyed the rest of the field. Recording the most miles led in the 2016 Coca-Cola 600, he led 392 of 400 laps. This shone on a short track as well, as Martin Truex Jr led 93 percent of the laps in the 2019 Martinsville race.

Truex Jr has usually not fared well on short tracks. This year, he lost his lead to Denny Hamlin in both Bristol and Richmond. Yet Hamlin recently claimed that Truex inspired him to start his own short-track game. “I would say, for the longest time, you always heard about Martin Truex not winning on short tracks. But he challenged me on short tracks for a greater part of a decade. Like he didn’t get the wins…like we saw he lost his sh*t at Richmond, because he’d had five races at Richmond go that exact same way.”

Indeed, the Richmond finish this year was a nail-biter. Martin Truex Jr led 228 of 400 laps and hoped for his first season victory. But Hamlin poured cold water on his pursuit with a super fast pit stop. Truex bumped Hamlin’s rear three times to show his anger post-race. Yet Hamlin bowed to his rival teammate in four words: “He made me better.” He further added how Truex is an asset to JGR: “So that was his greatest contribution to me as a driver. Again, he was the barrier of speed.”

Martin Truex Jr’s invaluable contribution extends beyond Joe Gibbs Racing. His unique racing style sets a standard for other drivers, as people agree.

However, Truex harbors immense respect

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After the anti-climactic Richmond race, Martin Truex Jr visibly unloaded his frustration on two drivers. Besides his main target, Denny Hamlin, he also pushed Kyle Larson, who overtook him at the end. Despite that aggressive move, Larson still admitted that Truex is the “most respected guy in the garage area.” Denny Hamlin agreed as much recently, praising him: “He’s just so respectful.”

The main reason for this is Truex’s squeaky-clean racing style. The Next-Gen car’s increased parity forces drivers to seize every potential spot to cover track position, and it leads to dirty racing. But Truex still finds a way out of the chaos. “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.”

This respectable Cup driver’s Cup career will now wrap up. Honoring his legacy, the NASCAR President also hailed Truex’s contribution along with Hamlin. “Though he especially excelled on NASCAR’s biggest stages, Martin performed his craft with a quiet tenacity, allowing his immense success tell his incredible story.”

Hence, Martin Truex Jr is achieving the sweetest dream of a retiring athlete – going out in maximum glory.