Can Martin Truex Jr. Score 1 Last Win?
Can Martin Truex Jr. get that send-off win in his last full-time NASCAR Cup Series season?
Lost in the aftermath of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway was how quickly things changed for Truex.
Truex, who led over half the laps in Richmond’s first race this season, was one of the favorites to win in the return trip to the Virginia short track.
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Instead, Truex and the No. 19 team got their nightmare scenario. A blown engine forced Truex out of the race after 250 laps, relegating him to a last-place finish. To make matters worse, the race ended with Austin Dillon, a new winner, capturing the checkered flag. Dillon’s victory delayed Truex, who is still winless in 2024, from being able to lock down a postseason berth with points.
But the story did not end there. On Aug. 14, NASCAR penalized Dillon for rough driving by revoking his playoff eligibility. That decision reset the playoff grid to 12 eligible winners with three races to go, meaning at least one driver would get in on points. Going into the next race at Michigan International Speedway, Truex held a 60-point advantage over Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs, the next highest winless driver.
Michigan International Speedway provided another twist in Truex’s quest to reach the playoffs. The No. 19 was fast when the rain-delayed race resumed on Monday (Aug. 19). Truex led for a total of 28 laps and appeared to be on his way to a top-five finish.
But with seven laps to go, he got loose in turn 4 and popped the wall, bringing out the caution flag. He was able to limp to the finish in 24th, a result that was not indicative of how strong he ran.
Even with the disappointing ending, Truex’s spot in the playoffs finally feels secure. Tyler Reddick’s victory opened a second postseason opportunity for a winless driver. Although Truex’s advantage over Gibbs shrunk to 38 points, he still leads Chris Buescher, the next winless driver, by 61. Even in the unlikely event that Dillon’s penalty gets overturned this week, Truex still has the upper hand in the battle for the final playoff positions.
Having announced his retirement from full-time racing after this year, this will be Truex’s last shot to win another Cup Series championship. He has been one of the best ever under the elimination-style playoffs, having won the title in 2017 and appeared in the championship round five times.
On the other hand, Truex has not won a race in over a year and will take relatively few playoff points into the postseason. If he is going to challenge for a championship, he will have to recapture some of that old playoff magic.
Perhaps the bigger storyline for Truex is whether or not he can score one last win before the season ends. Over the past 10 years, NASCAR has seen some legendary drivers walk away from competing in the Cup Series. Most of them did not contend for a championship in their final full-time season, but a few of them did win races.
Jeff Gordon had the best showing of these drivers in 2015, putting together a strong postseason performance highlighted by his 93rd and final victory at Martinsville Speedway. The win vaulted Gordon into the championship race, and although he did not win his fifth title, he kept the “Drive for Five” going all the way to his last race in the No. 24 car.
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In the years that followed, Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth also won races in their last full-time seasons. Stewart scored a thrilling victory at Sonoma Raceway in 2016, the 49th of his career. Despite getting passed on the last lap by Denny Hamlin, Stewart retook the lead in the final corner and got his first Cup Series win in three years.
Kenseth earned his 39th and final win at Phoenix Raceway in 2017 following a late-race duel with Chase Elliott. The victory was an emotional one for Kenseth, who faced an uncertain future in NASCAR and had just one additional race left with Joe Gibbs Racing.
However, none of the drivers who followed Gordon, Stewart and Kenseth into retirement got that memorable last-win moment. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Truex’s former mentor, had a grand sendoff in 2017 but was unable to win a race that season. Jimmie Johnson ended his full-time NASCAR career following the 2020 season, going winless in points-paying races for his last three years. Kasey Kahne did not get a final trip to victory lane in 2018, nor did Clint Bowyer in 2020, nor Ryan Newman in 2021.
Kurt Busch did win a race in what turned out to be his last season, although injuries sadly ended his racing career sooner than planned. Even Kevin Harvick, who ran his final Cup Series season last year, was unable to earn a win despite winning twice in 2022. Truex winning in the next 12 races is not impossible, but he would be bucking the recent trend.
As the playoffs begin, look for Truex to be strong at several of the remaining tracks. He is typically fast at Darlington Raceway, though accidents and mechanical failures have plagued him there over the past few years. He has nine top-10 finishes in the last 10 races at Kansas Speedway, a streak broken only by an early crash in last year’s playoff race.
Truex also has past wins at Phoenix, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. Yet his best shot at a final victory will probably come at Martinsville. He is already a three-time winner there, and JGR has taken home a lot of grandfather clocks. Perhaps Truex will take after Kenseth and win his next-to-last race as a full-time competitor.
Yet even if Truex does not get another win or make a serious run at the championship, hopefully his last season will not get lost in the inevitable shuffle of postseason drama. Truex faced a lot of challenges on the road to being a Cup Series contender and made the most of every opportunity he got.
Truex deserves recognition for a great career and a dominant championship performance in 2017. With the playoffs in his sights, he will have 12 more chances to add to the story of his career and bump his win total from 34 to 35.
