NASCAR Rumors: Michael Jordan’s Prodigy Among Top Candidates to End Joe Gibbs’ Search for Martin Truex Jr’s Successor

Is this Martin Truex Jr.’s final season competing in the NASCAR Cup Series? While the story is expected to make the news all season long in 2024, the driver himself isn’t sure of what the future has in store for him. Before the start of the season, sharing his stance on his retirement, Truex Jr. said, “I have no idea what I’m doing next year. I have no clue.”

However, according to a recent report by Jordan Bianchi, it seems like Joe Gibb Racing is also planning a future without their veteran driver. They do have the option of replacing MTJ with Aric Almirola or Chandler Smith, who are in-house drivers for JGR in the Xfinity Series. But it seems like Michael Jordan’s future NASCAR star is also in the mix to take over the No. 19 JGR ride.

Corey Heim is in the running to replace Truex Jr. at JGR

Michael Jordan’s brainchild, 23XI Racing and LMC, announced ahead of the 2024 season that Heim will serve as a reserve driver for the team. In just a short period, competing in the Truck Series races, Heim had made a huge jump in his NASCAR career. After joining the TRD family back in 2022 with Tricon Garage, he went on to make his Cup debut this season for LMC, as Erik Jones was out of action due to injury.

Moreover, he will also be making yet another Cup start this season with the #50 23XI car in Nashville. Bringing Almirola back into the fold leads to a similar situation that JGR finds itself in right now. The veteran driver does bring a ton of experience and could run competitively with the #19 car. Meanwhile, both Chandler Smith and Heim are young guns eager to prove their racing skills on the big stage. So it feels like JGR is spoiled for choices.

Another big factor that could perhaps influence this decision is a new charter agreement. Going by the recent reports, it feels like NASCAR could be restricting teams to just three chatters in 2025. Although JGR and HMS are expected to be exempted from the new rule, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them stick with three charters, given how costly running a race team has become in NASCAR these days.

Even if everything falls into place, the buck essentially has to stop with Martin Truex Jr. and his call on retirement. And going by his run of performances in 2024, it is hard to see him calling it quits from NASCAR racing just yet.

Truex Jr. could rethink his stance on retirement on the back of the 2024 run

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Last season, the New Jersey native took home the crown of the regular season champion but was unable to script the same run in the playoffs. In a bid to make amends for his missed opportunities from last season, Truex Jr. switched gears in 2024. After a decent showing at Daytona and Atlanta, he started churning out consistent top-placing finishes.

He even came close to winning races at Bristol and then again at Martinsville, where he was piped by his teammate Denny Hamlin. Thanks to his controversial restart at the end of the race. In 13 starts so far in the season, the veteran JGR driver has managed four top-5 finishes, which sees him hold the runner-up spot in the driver’s standings. In 2023, he did have three wins to his name, but this season, he’s found himself in contention for wins on multiple occasions. And it is only a matter of time until he gets to victory.

Although Truex Jr. has already conquered NASCAR’s highest peak with his championship win back in 2017, the Daytona 500 win still eludes him, and this just might push the driver to have another Cup Series run next year.