Martin Truex Jr. has announced his retirement from the NASCAR Cup Series at the end of the 2024 season. This brings to an end a storied career in which Truex made a name for himself with Furniture Row Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing just after his 30th birthday.
The 43-year-old driver won the Cup Series championship in 2017 and is looking to win it again in 2024. Following the news of Truex’s retirement, several drivers, including Chase Elliott, spoke to FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass about it.
Over the weekend, Elliott was asked if he had any memorable encounters with Truex, and his answer was as expected: “No. To be honest with you, that’s why I like [Martin Truex Jr.],” Elliott said. “I wish there had been more. I’ve always had a lot of respect for Martin.
We’ve always gotten along well. In my nine years together, we probably never spoke more than 20 words to each other.” There’s no need for that. There’s always been a mutual respect.
Truex is one of the most respected drivers in the Cup Series garage, and the general feeling is that everyone is sad to see him retire at the end of 2024. Elliott has a lot of respect for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, so it makes sense that that would be true across the board.
The Cup Series will be different without Truex, but that doesn’t mean he’s gone for good.
Chase Elliott is outdoing his NASCAR championship season; Josh Berry is racing for a job; Iowa shines
For the third week in a row, we have a new NASCAR Cup Series points leader. It hasn’t been as popular all year.
Chase Elliott finished third on Sunday in Iowa, continuing his remarkably consistent 2024 season.
In 17 points-earning events, Elliott has never finished worse than 19th. He is the only driver ever to finish outside the top 20. “I’m just continuing to have solid days,” Elliott said with satisfaction. “I just need a little bit more to set the pace and lead laps like I think we can.” He was good in just about every way. But will it be as good as his 2020 championship season? Impossible, right? Hardly. He could be better.
Sure, Elliott has just one win this year, a win at Texas, but at this point in 2020, Elliott also had just one win. He could make his name with four more of the past 14 starts, but these late returns are a trend.
Thirteen of his 19 career wins have come since the midpoint of the season, when NASCAR kicks off this Sunday at New Hampshire.
Elliott now has the same number of top-five finishes (seven) and top-10 finishes (nine) as he has at this point in 2020, and his average finish of 9.1 is well above the 13.9 he achieved in 17 races four years ago.
That 9.1 would be the highest single-season average finish since Denny Hamlin had 8.4 in 2021, the year before the seventh-generation car was introduced.
And yes, maybe most of the time Elliott still doesn’t have the pace to win races. But he could still be on track for a second title. Let’s go through the passage.
First Gear
Ryan Blaney won on Sunday to clinch a playoff berth. But the most important result may have been Josh Berry’s seventh place finish.
He also earned 15 stage points, but it was Berry’s third top-10 finish in the past five races. He’s battling for a job on a lap-by-lap basis, perhaps more than any of the lame-duck Stewart-Haas brothers.
Chase Briscoe was heavily considered the favorite to win in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 car and was also rumored to be in the No. 21. Noah Gragson will likely bounce back, and Ryan Preece could return to the Xfinity Series.
What will happen with Berry? The ruling is still pending. But if they ride like they did on Sunday, it can only help.
Second Gear
The race was great, but I couldn’t help but notice that Iowa Speedway looked a little off.
This is because the asphalt paving has not been completed, with the bottom two or three lanes having a new layer of asphalt and the upper grooves having an old, faded gray hue.
Although there were a few latecomers, most riders argued that the completed paving would only make an already dicey surface even better. After all, why do three rotations when you can do four?
3rd Gear
Blanney’s win on Sunday more or less completed the inevitable and secured a spot in the playoffs. Blaney was already doing well points-wise, so it was a no-foul for those close to the bubble and well deserved.
These included Chris Buescher (15th), Bubba Wallace (16th), Joey Logano (17th) and Kyle Busch (18th). Just 52 points separate the four, with Logano just six points shy of the cut line with nine regular season races remaining.
4th Gear
Denny Hamlin (9.4) and Brad Keselowski (9.8) have the best career average finish percentages in New Hampshire, and Hamlin and Kyle Busch have three wins each, topping the list among active drivers.
Martin Truex Jr. has led 426 laps in the last three events here, 350 more than anyone else.
