NASCAR’s oldest active race car driver, Martin Truex Jr has officially announced his retirement from NASCAR Cup Series racing. The 43-year-old New Jersey native didn’t have any grand plans or celebratory parades to make this decision official. Rather, a simple press conference ahead of this weekend’s race in Iowa did the trick for him. That’s just how Truex Jr likes to move, and nothing different was expected of him.

Truex’s decision to hang up his boots from racing was in the making for a long time. For the past few seasons, MTJ did hint about the possibility of the day when he would call it quits from racing, and today it’s finally come true. This retirement wasn’t a surprising event, as every major publication had reported that the JGR driver would make his big call this Friday.

Initially, the reports suggested that it was Joe Gibbs Racing who pressured him into making the decision. But going by both Truex and Joe Gibbs’ words, that certainly wasn’t the case. Rather, team owner Joe Gibbs even tried making Truex Jr reconsider his call: “I did everything I could to keep it going.” But the veteran driver was clear about his decision. However, there is still a possibility of him getting back in the JGR car, as he will stick around with the team after the 2024 season.

Martin Truex Jr to become brand ambassador for Joe Gibbs Racing

It is indeed hard to believe that the driver who pulled off the biggest upset in the history of NASCAR racing is finally calling it quits competitive racing. The 2016 triumph with Furniture Row Racing will always be remembered by the NASCAR community. A single-race car team won against behemoths like Hendrick Motorsports, Stewart Haas Racing, and JGR. He did come close to winning his second championship with JGR in 2019 with seven wins, but that was not to be.

Fortunately, for MTJ and JGR fans, he is going to stick around with the team for a long time despite retiring from full-time Cup racing. This was confirmed by Coach Gibbs during the press meeting, where he said, “The great thing is Martin is going to continue with us. He’s going to be an ambassador for us and work on different projects and different things.” Not only that, he even suggested that he might lure Truex Jr back into the race car for a couple of races.

This could mean that MTJ could get another bite at the Daytona 500 cherry. It’s the only big prize from NASCAR racing that has eluded him, so the door opening for him to hop back in the car for another Daytona 500 attempt is indeed a welcoming thought. Apart from the Silly Season rumors, performance was another reason that floated around online that could perhaps force the driver’s hand in making his retirement call.

But like the previous rumor, it wasn’t true, as the driver himself cleared the air about what prompted him to make this call. “No, I mean, it doesn’t. We’ve had some disappointments this year, for sure, but it’s not enough to make you stop doing what you do. So yeah, totally not related to performance in any way, shape, or form.” With Martin Truex Jr now making his retirement call official, the question now remains, who will replace him in the No. 19 JGR car?

Potential candidates to grab the No. 19 seat at JGR

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With a crop of talented drivers from the now-defunct Stewart-Haas Racing team, JGR has plenty of options on its plate. Before this announcement, the biggest name that popped up was, Chase Briscoe. The senior-most driver at SHR hasn’t had the most successful career with his current team, with only a win to show in his 121 starts. However, SHR’s lack of competitive racing products might be a reason behind his stunned growth. But the mere prospect of making a switch from Ford to a quick-running JGR Toyota car could be a game changer for the driver.

Another SHR driver who could potentially be in the running to replace MTJ is Noah Gragson. Of all four drivers in his team, he certainly is the one who has managed to get the most out of his race car. Not to forget, he does boast the back of Bass Pro Shop, so JGR wouldn’t have to worry about sponsorship with Gragson taking the seat next season. He certainly gave a good account of his skill set and temperament as a race car driver during his time in the Xfinity Series with JRM, so keep an eye out for his potential links to JGR.

Even Erik Jones was recently linked to JGR as a potential replacement for Truex Jr. He had a stint with JGR for three full-time seasons, driving the No. 20 car. Despite posting two wins at the Daytona and Darlington fall races, he had to vacate the seat and make his move to Richard Petty Motorsports, which is now Legacy Motor Club. Ever since making his move away from JGR, Jones has only managed to grab a single win and is now in his fourth season at LMC. In this scenario, if he receives a phone call from Joe Gibbs about him making a comeback to his old team, he certainly won’t turn down that offer.

But again, all of this is the NASCAR community trying to connect the dots and predict the next JGR drivers. Only an official announcement by the JGR camp will put these speculations and rumors to bed.