Martin Truex Jr Set to Drop Retirement Bomb With Tony Stewart’s Ace as Frontrunner for Succession

All the rumors and speculation surrounding the future of Martin Truex Jr and his retirement plans are finally coming true. According to a report by Jeff Gluck via Athletic, the JGR driver is expected to announce his retirement from the NASCAR Cup Series at Iowa. Truex Jr had long been mulling over a decision to call it quits on competitive racing, but he wasn’t sure about his decision.

Moreover, this announcement also ticked off the silly season drama, as with the veteran JGR driver departing, the team will now be on a hunt for a new face. Although nothing is official just yet, one of the four SHR drivers is now the front-runner to take charge of the #19 car from 2025.

Martin Truex Jr is expected to announce his retirement from NASCAR Cup Series

Jeff Gluck, taking to his X account shared an update regarding MTJ’s future plans. “🚨 News via @Jordan_Bianchi: Martin Truex Jr. is expected to announce his decision to retire at the end of the season, with an announcement as soon as tomorrow.” However, his departure from JGR leaves the door wide open for a new driver to take up the role, and it looks like one of the Stewart-Haas Racing drivers has secured his ride for 2025.

The report shared by Gluck even stated that Chase Briscoe from SHR is expected to replace Martin Truex Jr in the No. 19 car. This solves one piece of the puzzle of where the SHR drivers could be headed after Tony Stewart and Gene Haas decided to take the exit door from NASCAR racing. Initially, it was reported that, perhaps, a young gun like Corey Heim could take up the mantle after MTJ’s departure. But it seems like JGR is banking on the experience of Briscoe, who has a Cup win to his name in 124 starts.

Truex Jr had been on a series of one-year deal extensions at JGR and had struggled to make a concrete decision about his future in the Cup Series. However, this time around, JGR wasn’t waiting until the end of the year to hear his decision. Especially with the number of drivers available on the market. Not only will his announcement get the rumors mills running on all cylinders, but it might lead to other pieces of the puzzle falling into place.

Apart from Chase Briscoe, MTG’s departure could also lead Noah Gragson to make plans for his move to Richard Childress Racing.

How does MTJ’s departure aid Gragson in finding a new seat?

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NASCAR’s silly season has predicted several teams buying the SHR charters and adding more drivers to fill the seats of the new teams. RCR certainly wasn’t in the picture until Jordan Bianchi shared his prediction of Gragson ending up being Kyle Busch’s teammate. Moreover, in order to add his arrival, RCR would need to buy a third charter. It is highly unlikely to see either Austin Dillon or Busch give up their seats to welcome a new driver.

This is where the Gragson and Martin Truex Jr connection comes into play. Both drivers are sponsored by Bass Pro Shop, and if MTJ continued racing in the Cup Series, that would leave the SHR driver in a tight spot. Even Brett Griffin on the DBC podcast agreed with this theory: “Obviously, Bass Pro Shop has ties to Martin, so if Martin does retire, that probably helps Noah’s scenario. If he doesn’t retire, I think it will probably hurt Noah’s scenario, so you know there’s a lot of cards to fall.”

And now that reports are floating around stating that Truex Jr is retiring, who knows? This has opened the doors for RCR and Gragson to make their move. Again, Richard Childress will either have to vacate one of his race cars or buy a third charter to make this move a reality.