Martin Truex Jr.: 'No way I'd have ever won a championship' without Bass Pro Shops relationship

Martin Truex Jr. knows that the support of Bass Pro Shops helped him become a top driver in the NASCAR Cup Series. While appearing on the Dale Jr. Download podcast, Truex spoke to Dale Earnhardt Jr. about his relationship with the company and its founder, owner and CEO Johnny Morris.

“I definitely feel like the luckiest guy in the world to be partnered with someone like that that is just such a genuine friend and their family and just what they have meant to my career,” Truex said. “Every time I needed something or something was changing, they always stood behind me.

“I’ve told Johnny and he doesn’t really like to take too much credit for it, of course, but there’s no way I would ever won a championship I don’t think without his support. When I went to drive the NAPA car, he was fully supportive of that and the opportunity, and he still wanted to be an associate sponsor. He was on that car. And then at Funiture Row, we were struggling and Barney [Visser] was probably going to pull the plug. Johnny stepped up and sponsored that car, we won a championship.”

Truex added: “[Johnny] took such a big chance on me back starting in ’03/’04 season when I came down to drive for [Earnhardt] and you put all that together. I feel lucky to have that partnership. But how lucky is it to get just do something you love hunting and fishing and be authentic talking about Bass Pro Shops and going to do whatever you have to do with them.”

Will Martin Truex Jr. continue to race after retirement?

Truex recently announced his retirement, meaning this season is his final one as a full-time Cup Series driver. In 657 Cup Series races, the 43-year-old has earned 288 top-10 finishes and 34 victories. And as Truex mentioned, he won the Cup Series Championship in 2017 while driving for Furniture Row Racing. He has been driving for Joe Gibbs Racing for the last six seasons.

“I still enjoy driving, obviously, so I want to keep doing that some. Hopefully, I can make it work out where it stays fun, and I feel like I can go win still, which I feel like that shouldn’t be a problem. I just want to get off — tired of running on that hamster wheel, you know? Wide open, every day, all day, every week. Just the scheduling and the traveling is just something I need a break from,” Truex told Earnhardt. “But otherwise, I still like to race.”

On3’s Steve Samra contributed to this story.