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LONG POND — Martin Truex Jr. most likely will make his final start Sunday at Pocono Raceway in the Great American Getaway 400 Presented by VISITPA.
Last month, the 44-year-old driver from Mayetta, New Jersey, announced he was retiring from full-time racing at the end of this season, although he left open the possibility of running an occasional race.
Could Pocono be one of those races? He considers it one of his home tracks along with Dover and New Hampshire.
“I don’t know, I have to look at it all,” Truex said. “There’s probably only two or three tracks I’d even think about Cup racing in and it depends on the opportunity as well. You just don’t want to go there and race. If I’m going to go, I want to have a shot at winning. If that’s something we can put together, then we’ll do it. If not, then we’ll play with Xfinity or something.”
If this is his Pocono swan song, it’s been a wild ride.
He first came to the 2.5-mile triangular track as a kid watching his father, Martin Sr., compete in the Race of Champions Modified event.
“I remember seeing the Street Stocks and I thought they were the coolest thing because they were squealing the tires and running into each other, crashing like crazy,” Truex said. “Those are really only my early memories of Pocono. I never raced there again until I was in the Cup Series. Definitely a different time. I remember staying in the hotel and it had a heart-shaped hot tub and they’re still there so it’s kind of crazy.”
Truex’s first race as a driver at Pocono came in 2006. In 34 starts, he has one pole (August 2016), two wins (June 2015, June 2018), seven top-five and 15 top-10 finishes. His average finish is 14.1.
“You’ve got to find a way to make your car work good in all three turns,” Truex said. “Obviously they’re very different. It’s always a challenge and track position is key. So you’ve got to qualify well. You’ve got to have a fast car and you’ve got to have race strategy, too. If you get off strategy and lose your track position, it’s going to be a tough day.”
His victory at Pocono in June 2015 probably is the most memorable because of everything going on at the time in his life.
Two years earlier, he lost his sponsor and his ride at Michael Waltrip Racing as part of the fallout of a cheating scandal — the team, unbeknownst to him, deliberately caused a caution at Richmond to help Truex make the playoffs. NASCAR disqualified him from the Chase.
Days before that Pocono race, Truex’s grandmother, Roberta, died. Also, his then long-time girlfriend Sherry Pollex was battling ovarian cancer.
But Truex led 97 of 160 laps to break a 69-race victory drought and get his first win with Furniture Row Racing.
“The ’15 win was huge, just because it had been a drought for a couple years with a new group of guys, which ended up being our championship group,” Truex said. “That was just the start of a crazy awesome run.”
To date, Truex has made 677 career Cup Series starts with 23 poles, 34 wins, 146 top fives and 288 top 10s. Eight of his victories came in 2017 when he won the Cup championship.
Also, he has 13 Xfinity wins and two series titles (2004 and 2005). And, he won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series dirt race at Bristol in 2021.
Asked how he would like to be remembered, Truex said as a driver who had sustained success.
“First win was a long time ago,” Truex said. “I feel like I’ve been at the top of my game for a long time and hopefully I can go out and have people remember what I was able to do and have respect for my abilities.”
Winless so far this season, Truex qualified third for Sunday’s Great American Getaway 400 at 169.221 mph. He has four top-fives and eight top-10s through 20 races in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. However, he is firmly entrenched in a playoff position at 125 points above the cutline with six races remaining in the regular season.
He would love to finish his career with another championship, but feels he and his team need to execute better.
“We have speed, we have the team to do it,” Truex said. “We just have made too many mistakes and a lot of issues in the pits, especially lately. A little bit of good luck and good fortune would be nice, as well. But we just need to execute better and take advantage of the speed we’ve had all year.”
Pocono Raceway paid tribute to Truex, painting his name on the track at the start-finish line.
“As a driver, you don’t ever feel like you’re really deserving of things like that,” Truex said. “For Pocono to do that, it’s really special for me, my family. Definitely cool to see and hope we’re the first to cross it (Sunday).”