Martin Truex Jr. clears the air on retirement rumors

Martin Truex Jr. is setting the record straight when it comes to him possibly retiring from NASCAR. While speaking with NASCAR reporter Claire B. Lang, the 43-year-old veteran driver was asked if he is feeling the pressure about his 2025 contract, since the 2024 season is already in the second half.

“I don’t know yet. We’ll see,” Truex said. “It’s never enough time in this sport because you need to start planning for next year like now. It’s a tough situation to be in where I’m at right now, trying to figure out six, or eight months ahead of time. But it is what it is. There’s a lot of people that have to make plans and you don’t want to mess them up. You gotta be looking out for everybody else in these situations.”

Truex has contemplated about his retirement in the last couple of years, and Joe Gibbs Racing gave him time to decide. In 2022, Truex was announced he was returning in July. Last year, Truex made the decision to return in August.

Kevin Harvick wants Martin Truex Jr. to make a decison now

Kevin Harvick, who announced his retirement from full-time racing last year, said Truex needs to make a decision now. “I think it’s time for Martin to make a decision,” Harvick said, on his Happy Hour podcast.

“Does he want to race, [or] does he not want to race? And how long is Joe Gibbs gonna sit back and have that controversy of Truex trying to decide ‘Am I gonna race again next year?’ You hear the frustration on TV, on the radio and everything that he’s got going on, so where’s that balance of OK, I’m Joe Gibbs Racing — we just need to end this year-to-year stuff and start to build a stable program. I know Martin is gonna be consistent and run in the front and do the things that he needs to do, but at some point, you gotta rebuild.

“You look at Hendrick, they stopped and rebuilt. You look at the 54 car at Joe Gibbs Racing with Ty Gibbs, he jumped right in there and was able to put them in contention to at least be in the conversation of winning races. I think with Martin, at some point that has to get old of just continuously going back and forth on a year-to-year basis of are you gonna come back next year. So, I think that decision — it sounds like they’re putting more pressure on Martin this year to [make that decision] earlier. We gotta know what we’re planning around here and move forward.”

Truex has won 34 races and finished in the top 10 287 times in his 20-year career. He won the Cup Series title in 2017 and claimed regular season cup series championships in 2017 and 2023.

On3’s Nick Geddes contributed to this story.