The Next Gen era did not start particularly well for Martin Truex Jr. last year. Not only did the 2017 Cup Series champion end the season with no wins, but he also missed the playoffs entirely, finishing a disappointing 17th in the standings. Hard to believe, considering Truex leads the standings this year and notched up his second win at Sonoma on Sunday. But it has been anything but easy for JGR and Truex in particular.
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Last year Truex was uncertain about his future in the Cup Series and considering how it all went down between Joe Gibbs Racing and Kyle Busch, a split was not completely out of the picture. Ultimately, the two went together for the 2023 season, which now seems like a good decision.
Martin Truex Jr. on what is different this year
After the race at Sonoma, Truex was asked what changed from last year, and how the team kept itself together amid a period of difficulty. He said, “We should have won a bunch of races last year, even though our cars weren’t probably the best in the field. Toyota as a group probably was off. I still feel like we should have won five or six races. And I think we did mistakes. We had some bad luck. We had some crazy things happen, and that’s just racing. But I don’t think any of us ever got down. That’s why my teams are all the same, still right now, and we never gave up believing in each other. We just kept working hard.”
Last season, @MartinTruex_Jr went winless.
With two wins in 2023, what’s different about the No. 19 team? pic.twitter.com/0gtEosRorb
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 12, 2023
Clearly, after the down last year, Truex is preparing for a strong run for his second championship that will tie his tally with Kyle Busch and 2022 champion Joey Logano.
Truex Jr. was unsure about his future in NASCAR last year
Exactly this time last year, the situation was a little different though. With his contract at JGR expiring, Truex Jr. was not sure where his career would go. Before the race at Gateway, he opened up to the reporters, saying, “Everybody asks me, but I still don’t have any news. I’ll let you know when I find out.”
Martin Truex Jr. says he never had the retirement conversation internally until this year and it was nice to just have that process and that he concluded that he wanted to be here and do this. pic.twitter.com/NBQTEyhW4J
— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) June 25, 2022
Indeed, after a couple of weeks, Joe Gibbs Racing broke the news that Truex would return with the team for the 2023 season in the Cup Series on a one-year deal. And what after that? According to the man himself, he would probably be going through this all over again. Just this time, he is in a much better position and might just make a run for the ultimate prize.
