NASCAR World Feeling Old as Martin Truex Jr Leaves a Trail of ‘Coulda, Woulda, Shouldas’ in His Wake

Martin Truex Jr quietly announced his full-time retirement from NASCAR on Friday, June 14th. Following the conclusion of the 2024 season at Phoenix Raceway, there will be no more MTJ or the clouds of bad luck that have often surrounded his glorious advances.

For those familiar with the lowkey ways of Truex, it won’t come as a surprise to know he made his decisions public not with a full-blown farewell parade. Instead, the 43-year-old sat alongside his current team owner, Joe Gibbs to give the heads-up to NASCAR in a publicity-free presser before the Cup Series debuts at Iowa Speedway.

In his own words, MTJ said: “You’re married to racing. It’s all you do…” Albeit shaky, that marriage helped MTJ to the ultimate prize after his eleventh full-time Cup Series season – a hard-earned championship in 2017. But on the flip side, many also notice a confusing ratio of only 32 race wins compared to nearly 700 premier division starts.

Now as a legend dives down to depart for good after 2024, he leaves his admirers some interesting contrasts to explore. But not all of it has been rainbows and sunshine for Martin Truex Jr.

From DEI dissolution to field-filling championship glory

One could argue it had barely ever been rainbows and sunshine for MTJ before he stepped into the folds of Joe Gibbs Racing. Yet, the Mayetta, New Jersey native has one of the most interesting careers in NASCAR’s modern era. Truex burst onto the scene with back-to-back championships in the NASCAR Busch Series (now Xfinity Series) in 2004 and 2005. However, his transition to the Cup Series in 2006 with Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) did not turn out as smoothly as he would have expected. Although MTJ’s first-ever Cup win did indeed come with DEI in 2007 at Dover, the once-dominant team was struggling financially. And starting in 2009, DEI slowly started absolving into Chip Ganassi Racing. Nevertheless, this wouldn’t be the first time Truex would face a situation of this gravity.

In 2010, Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) replaced the owner Michael Waltrip himself with MTJ in their #56 seat. His best finish that season ended up being a P5 at Martinsville. The next few years would play out quite mediocre. But after claiming his second career Cup Series win at Sonoma in 2013, it seemed the stars were slowly aligning for Martin Truex Jr and MWR. After all, their #56 driver was locked into the Chase for only the second time in his career through a potential wildcard spot till that time.

Contrarily, that season got marred for Truex by a controversial race manipulation attempt by Michael Waltrip Racing in the regular season championship finale. This incident, also known as the ‘Spingate’ resulted in NASCAR ejecting Martin Truex Jr out of the Chase to make room for Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman, two drivers wrongfully affected by the unfortunate events that also cost MWR a whopping $300,000 in fines.

In the following days, NAPA Auto Parts, the sponsors of Truex’s #56 car pulled away from their business association with MWR, leaving MTJ without a seat due to unforeseen circumstances for the second time. But when field-fillers, Furniture Row Racing (FRR) came calling in 2014, it served as a due turning point for MTJ. Paired with talented crew chief Cole Pearn, Truex finally had the right environment to flourish on FRR’s #78 single-car operations. The 2015 season saw him rack up top-10 finishes and secure his first Championship Four appearance.

The next few years were a dream come true for Truex. He captured 12 wins, a runner-up championship finish, and that coveted 2017 championship. Moreover, compared to his two wins with his last two organizations, MTJ won six times his previous numbers during his four years at FRR. But in another cue of misfortune, Furniture Row Racing would close its doors forever in 2018.

He then landed at Joe Gibbs Racing, a powerhouse team with a roster to die for. Finally having teammates to claim, Truex Jr finished second in the championship race for the second consecutive year in 2019, behind a JGR stable partner – Kyle Busch. The next 5 years were all about playoff appearances and racking up wins, with the 2023 regular season championship also making its way to the #19 Toyota inside Coach Gibbs’ garage. But MTJ’s narrative based on bad luck was truly amplified in the Kansas playoffs race where he cut a tire to finish P36. Many speculate that if not for those circumstances, he could have very well gone on to win his second Cup Series title.

But those woes have been even more apparent in 2024. Even Truex Jr admitted during his retirement announcement at Iowa that “something just felt different this year.” That last lap fuel horror at the road race at Sonoma was barely a solitary disappointment for the #19 team. Martin Truex Jr remains winless heading to Iowa after receiving the jump on restarts and getting passed by teammates on the final laps (Christopher Bell at Phoenix? Denny Hamlin at Richmond?) Regardless, after six spectacular seasons, MTJ will be calling it quits in 2025. But a segment of the audience appears to be in division over the accolades, or lack thereof for Martin Truex Jr.

The one-of-a-kind tale of Martin Truex Jr

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A post on the NASCAR subreddit linking to FOX journalist Bob Pockrass’s updates sparked debate among fans about the #19 driver’s “full-time” future in 2025. Pockrass’ original post confirms: “He (Truex Jr) said he won’t be back full time.” This initiated a flurry of tributes for a former champ awaiting a fishing trip and some well-deserved downtime. As one diehard admired, “What a career. 34 wins… Pour one out for all the 19 flairs today.”

However, one Reddit user replied to this comment writing, “Only 34?? Damn felt like he had at least 45.”  Consequently, the Reddit thread blew up with a variety of opinions, “Half his career was in mediocre crap and the next half was at A tier level. Compare to Denny who’s just been A tier for double the time,” stated one fan, making a comparison not too friendly.

Another fan had some very candid revelations outlining Truex Jr’s potential for now-lost greatness as they explained, “and there have been so many races that he coulda, woulda, shoulda won but something happened and he didn’t. If it wasn’t for a couple of bad cautions in 2018 and 2021 and putting the wrong tires on in 2019 he could have also won the 2018, 2019 and 2021 championships.”

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Others, not completely in MTJs corner had their reasons to pay respects to a career filled with drama similar to that of a Netflix documentary. A heartfelt tribute read, “I never cared for him as a driver, but he had kind of a fascinating career. From a pretty lackluster start at DEI, then to MWR and almost losing his career after Spingate, taking that 78 team to the most improbable of heights, and ending up at a powerhouse like JGR. Going out on your own terms is always nice too.”

Nevertheless, at the onset of silence which will surely be much louder than the cheers if Truex Jr indeed manages to claim a race win in his farewell tour. “Thanks for everything MTJ 🫡,” wrote a fan in the most apt tribute that one could pay to a departing future Hall of Famer who is already one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers.