Dale Earnhardt Jr. has often been held in high regard by several within the NASCAR arena and usually when he suggests something, people ponder over it. But back in the day, there was this one time when he had to literally beg Rick Hendrick, the boss at Hendrick Motorsports to sign the current Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Martin Truex Jr.
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While speaking on his podcast, Junior said, “I begged Rick Hendrick to hire him when he was when he was between drivers. I can’t remember if it was Mark leaving or Kasey leaving.”
He added, “But there was a time when I had a hard time convincing Rick (Hendrick) to change the route he was going down and also to understand just what kind of a driver Martin was. And that would have been pretty cool to see him go there. But he ends up going down this other route.”
Junior expressed his belief that there is a lot to be grateful for in Martin Truex Jr.’s situation, as he found himself in a challenging position due to the collapse of Michael Waltrip’s team. Truex had to step down to a lower-tier car and contribute to the rebuilding of the program.
“Kurt Busch had been a part of improving furniture row and it was on the upswing when Martin got there. And Martin continued to take it to the next level,” said Earnhardt Jr.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. appreciates Martin Truex Jr. for turning his career around
Speaking further into the conversation, Junior mentioned, “But Truex… I gotta give him a lot of credit man. He was in a crossroads where he could have mentally and emotionally torpedoed his career or turned the corner and went the right way and he goes the right way.”
“Takes a lot of guts and mental toughness to do what he did to climb out of that hole and become a champion. And now he’s you know, won 30 some races.”
Lastly, Junior imagined what Martin Truex Jr.’s career might have looked like if he had been with a top-tier team like Joe Gibbs Racing for its entirety. Given that success only came in the latter half of his career, it’s conceivable that he could have amassed numerous additional wins and potentially secured another championship, had circumstances aligned favorably from the outset.
