By Luis Torres, Staff Writer
AVONDALE, Ariz. — A full-time career that began in 2006 has come to a close for Martin Truex, Jr. after Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway.
The 2017 Cup champion began the weekend by scoring his 25th career pole and led the opening nine laps. However, he only got to lead one green flag lap in that window as a crash involving Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs slowed down the race.
Once the race resumed, an old foe from the 2018 title battle came into the fray. Joey Logano passed Truex for position and would never see himself in first for the rest of the 312-lap event.
Despite this, the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota remained in the top-five for parts of the afternoon, highlighted by a second-place result in Stage 1 and racked up nine stage points which played a major role in the battle for 10th place in points.
Entering Phoenix, Truex had a four point advantage over Austin Cindric, who ended up 10th in the stage. Following Stage 2, Truex faltered a bit down the order, but remained consistently in the top-10 and ended the run in ninth to Cindric’s 13th.
From there, different pit strategy calls and an ill-timed caution that eliminated Zane Smith became the turning point for Truex as he saw himself in trouble. Only seven cars were on the lead lap with Truex not being among the magnificent group. Instead, he had to take the wave around where his pace, grip and balance took a steep decline and the other competitors capitalized from it.
As the laps of his valiant career was winding down, so was his chances of a top-10 as Cindric was among those who pulled away from Truex by four spots. When the dust settled, Logano went on to win the finale and championship while Truex completed his 684th consecutive race, the longest among all active drives, in 17th position.
After not finishing in the top-10 points standings the last two years, Truex earned enough points over Cindric to lock up 10th in the series standings by matching his points position.
Truex exited out of the No. 19 machine he’s driven since 2019 with the paint scheme from his Cup debut in Atlanta 20 years ago for the final time. Not long after, Truex was greeted by two legends in sports — Jeff Gordon and Michael Jordan.
From there, smiles were had as the emotions kicked in as he knew that his swan song wasn’t the way he would’ve liked after the car and conditions changed.
“Oh man. I wanted it to go better than that,” said Truex. “We were pretty good early and then lost track position and then the track just continued to rubber up and get hotter. At least that’s what I felt like it was doing. I kept losing the grip. I kept losing more balance. I just losing track position. It just all magnifies with this thing.
“We got caught by the caution there and had to stay out on old tires and get the wave around and we couldn’t even race to try to go forward. It was just not a good day. Not a good day to end on. I’m proud of the effort of my team. At least we got to lead a few laps at the beginning.”
A future hall of famer with three national touring titles (2004-05 Xfinity and 2017 Cup), 34 Cup wins, and winning the respect in the garage will certainly not be forgotten for the racer from New Jersey.
Driving wise, it’s far from being done as he’ll head to Daytona with the goal of having fun and finally capture that elusive Daytona 500 victory as 2025 will be his 21st attempt. Between now and February, there’s zero sign of sadness from the 44-year-old.
“I’m happy. I got a lot to be thankful for and a lot to be proud of. I’m going to enjoy some time off here and do the banquet and all that fun stuff,” said Truex.
“It’s gonna be fun to come back in a different role and come race for fun. Hopefully be able to have fun. It’s so hard to have fun when you take it this serious. I was having fun early today and then it got miserable and I was hoping today would go better, so it’d be more fun. We’ll see. I look forward to Daytona.”
Now with the full-time tenue of his racing career in the rearview mirror, there’s a few things on Truex’s mind. One of them being hunting all week and what was written in chalk on the grid.
“Gone fishing”
When asked if he saw the written message, Truex confirmed he did and capped it off with a message.
“That was cool because I’m gonna be doing a lot of that,” said Truex.
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