He may not be the flashiest or the most popular or the most in-your-face driver currently in NASCAR, but there’s no denying that Martin Truex Jr. is a modern NASCAR legend and an almost sure entry into the Hall of Fame at some point in the future. After all, he is a Cup champion (2017) who has been to the victory lane 34 times in his career. But in the coming season, Truex could join a very exclusive club.
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That club is one in which there are only three other drivers who are all Hall of Famers Jimmie Johnson (to be inducted in 2024), Rusty Wallace, and Darrell Waltrip. What these three NASCAR legends have done and Truex is on the verge to do in 2024 is that they’ve led 550 laps in 10 consecutive seasons.
So far, Truex has led over 550 laps in every season since 2015, and if he manages to do it again in the coming season, he will become only the fourth driver in NASCAR’s modern era to do so.
It’s worth mentioning that Johnson did so for 11 consecutive seasons while Wallace and Waltrip did it for 10 each. But it’s unlikely that Truex will surpass Johnson and make it 12 seasons in a row considering his looming retirement.
In 2024, Martin Truex Jr is looking to become just the 4th driver in NASCARs Modern Era (1972-Present) to lead at least 550 laps in 10 CONSECUTIVE seasons.
Current Truex Jr has led at least 550 laps each season since 2015 (the only driver to do so)
Does he do it? pic.twitter.com/O9tJbg1hHG
— Trey Ryan (@TreyRyan99) December 28, 2023
Martin Truex Jr.’s NASCAR retirement is edging closer
At the start of the 2023 season, Kevin Harvick announced he would be retiring at the end of the year. But there were also rumors that the 43-year-old Martin Truex Jr. might just also call it quits at the end of 2023. For almost half the season, the rumors intensified, but then Truex announced that he had one more in him.
“I’m coming back,” he said as he confirmed that he would be coming back for the 2024 season in NASCAR’s top flight.
Having said that, he did joke about how last year he confirmed his coming season’s plan in June, this year he did so in August, so perhaps next season he’d do it in October. But jokes aside, there’s an air in the NASCAR garage that next season could very well be the last season of Truex’s career.
And even if 2024 isn’t his last, he would have to run until 2026 to break Johnson’s record of 11 consecutive seasons with 550 laps led, which seems very unlikely to be broken by Truex.
