NASCAR pays tribute to Martin Truex Jr. with epic video
Martin Truex Jr.'s full-time career will come to an end with this Sunday's season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
Ahead of his final ride inside the No. 19 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, NASCAR paid tribute to the future Hall of Famer with a video posted to X showing his career highlights.
Truex's NASCAR story is one of resilience, as the 44-year-old bounced around several teams before finding a home with JGR in 2019 in one of the most coveted rides in the spot. That's not to say Truex didn't have success before joining JGR, he did — lots of it.
Truex reached the mountain top in NASCAR, as in 2017, while driving the No. 78 Toyota for Furniture Row Racing, he won his first and only Cup Series championship. Truex tallied eight checkered flags that season and capped it off with a victory in the season finale at Homestead-Miami.
Truex's success continued the following year as he finished runner-up to Joey Logano — his last season with Furniture Row. Furniture Row closed up shop at the end of the 2018 campaign and soon thereafter, Truex signed a deal with JGR to pilot the No. 19 Toyota. Truex finished second again in 2019 and 2021 and has remained one of the Cup Series' most consistent drivers all the way up to and through the current season. In total, he's won 34 races across 19 seasons in NASCAR's premier series, including two Coca-Cola 600s and a Southern 500.
Martin Truex Jr. reveals wishes for final Cup Series race at Phoenix: 'I'd like to spoil the championship party'In addition to his Cup Series career, Truex had one of the better careers in the history of the Xfinity Series. He captured back-to-back Xfinity Series championships in 2004 and '05 and won 13 races in 104 starts. Truex was named one of NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers last year and is a shoo-in for the NASCAR Hall of Fame when he becomes eligible.
"Happy. Thankful. Proud. Just the things we've been able to do," Truex told Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports . "If you would have told me after my first couple years in the Cup Series that I would win 30-some races and a championship and had three runner-ups and just be around and be a solid, front-running driver for this long, I would be very excited about that. And so, I just feel like I've had a great career, more so than I ever thought I could accomplish or would accomplish, especially early on.
"I'm just thankful for all the people I got to work with and the fans and all my partners that made it possible. I feel very lucky to be able to get to do what I've done."
As for Phoenix, Truex would love to cap off his full-time run with checkered flag No. 35.
"I'd like to spoil the championship party," Truex said . "You'd love to win that thing. It's happened before. We've been pretty good there. And hopefully, we can find something a little bit extra and go there.
"Going out with a win would be the most amazing thing ever short of a championship, obviously, which is impossible. But just want to go have fun and enjoy the last race with the team."
