Martin Truex Jr. will be retiring at the end of the ongoing Cup Series season. He has spent nearly two decades in the premier tier and won a championship in 2017. As he looks back at this long journey of ups and downs, one person who stands out as special is Dale Earnhardt Jr. Truex spoke about the icon’s involvement in his career during a pre-race interview in Bristol.
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The maiden full-time season that Truex got in NASCAR was under the banner of Chance 2 Motorsports in the Xfinity Series. Chance 2 was an outfit founded and run by Dale Jr. and Teresa Earnhardt. He drove for the team in 2004 and 2005, winning championships in both seasons. He remembers those days as clear as water and along with it, the support that Dale Jr. gave him.
He said, “A lot of special memories, and a lot of fun stuff that we got to do together. He was a veteran around here at that point, so I learned a lot of the ropes on how things go from him and tagged along – doing a lot of the things that he got to do.” Truex’s time in Chance 2 is what ultimately helped him gain promotion to the Cup Series in 2006 as well.
He kicked off his career in the premier tier with Dale Earnhardt Inc., a team closely associated with Chance 2 Motorsports. The time that he spent with Dale Jr. is what has now led him to place a sincere request in front of the popular icon. He continued, “I told him the other night when I saw him that – ‘can you just do one more year of a few Xfinity races, so we can race together one last time?’”
Will Dale Jr. oblige? It cannot be known for sure but Truex certainly appears to have got a lot of good memories. Chance 2 Motorsports was in operation for only three seasons. Although short-lived, it gave NASCAR a truly commendable hero. It is rather unfortunate that Truex’s championship bid had to end after a disappointing result in Bristol this weekend.
He failed to make the Round of 12 after falling short on points to qualify through Round 1. But all is not lost. Reaching the victory lane in one of the upcoming seven races would still be a moment worthy of celebration. He may have failed to progress to the Championship 4 in his final year, but a Hall of Fame induction is right on his heels very soon. He will race at Kansas Speedway next Sunday.
