Tomorrow afternoon at Phoenix Raceway Martin Truex Jr. will drive his last NASCAR Cup Series race as a full-time driver. However, as opposed to waxing poetic and focusing on his Hall of Fame caliber career, Truex is focusing on the upcoming race and his future part-time racing career.
“I want to win. I mean, honestly, we come here every single weekend trying to win,” Martin Truex Jr. said to Newsweek and other media. “I know this year it’s not going the way we hope it would, that’s for sure. But the guys are still working really hard trying everything they can and I’m doing the same. So this is another weekend where with this business as usual, trying to do the best we can.”
Truex is not completely stepping away from racing. He is expressing interest in running some Xfinity Series races for his current team owner, Joe Gibbs.
“We got to talk to coach (team owner Joe Gibbs) about the Xfinity car, so we’ll see what the options are there,” Truex Jr. said “I’d like to run a few of those next year for sure. So haven’t really looked into terms at all. I’m not sure about that, but hopefully doing some things look forward to having some fun next year and that will include some bracing, so we’ll see how it all plays out.”
Getty Images/Sean Gardner
Even with full-time racing retirement beckoning, Truex Jr. is focused on the task at hand at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday. Yes, racetrack victories have been hard to come by (his last win was July 17, 2023 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway) but to Truex Jr. those notions of on-track failures are moot because the next race is the next opportunity to win, even when you have only one race left.
“I mean you realize that the opportunities are slipping away to go back to Victory Lane and get that last win, so we have only one more shot,” Truex Jr. said. “That’s really been the only thing that’s been on my mind. It’s been disappointing at times. I think at times we probably want it too much and try too hard and indeed ourselves, that’s something that happens in this work quite often. But yeah, I don’t know. Just been trying really hard and want it so hopefully tomorrow we can not call some that.”
Martin Truex Jr. gets one more shot to drive to Victory Lane on Sunday, November 10 at Phoenix Raceway. The green flag is scheduled to drop at 1:00 p.m. (ET)