When Martin Truex Jr. announced his retirement from full-time Cup Series racing last month he mentioned that he was still open to the idea of occasional participation. While the exact translation of his words was still vague at the time, there are a few guarantees now, weeks later. He opened up on the same and extended his thoughts to Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the latter’s podcast.
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“It’s almost a guarantee right now. I feel like I’ll probably run the Daytona 500,” he said. “Not a done deal yet, but I feel like you know it shouldn’t be too hard to finish that up.” Beyond the Great American Race, things get a bit blurry once again. While he is certain that he will be driving in the Xfinity Series, he doesn’t know how many appearances he will make.
The former champion is also excited at the prospect of possibly splitting driving time with his brother, Ryan, an Xfinity Series part-timer. Furthermore, he also holds a desire to drive in the Craftsman Truck Series again.
He has made three truck starts over his entire career and won his latest, in Bristol (2021). End of the day, fans can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the veteran will most definitely be seen on the track frequently.
The reason Martin Truex Jr. is not ready to quit racing altogether yet
For over two decades, Truex Jr. has lived and breathed NASCAR. Even at the age of 44, his performances on the track provide no indicator of his tank beginning to run low on fuel. And the love for speed isn’t lost on him either. Why did he opt to retire then? He is just tired of the pressure that the packed racing schedule has been bringing him every single week for such a long time.
“I still enjoy driving obviously and I want to keep doing that. Hopefully, I can make it work out where it stays fun and feel like I can still win. Which I feel shouldn’t be a problem. But I just want to get off… tired of running on that hamster wheel wide open every day, all day, every week. Just the scheduling and the traveling is just kind of like something I need to break from.” – Martin Truex Jr.
There wasn’t any deep thinking and analysis that went into Truex Jr. picking 2024 as the year that he would finally hang up his racing suit full-time. He admitted to Dale Jr. that his life was far more simplified now than it ever was before and that it just felt like it was the right time to let go of the desire to win more races and another championship.
