Martin Truex Jr. opens up about Daytona 500 attempt, reuniting with Cole Pearn

Martin Truex Jr. retired from full-time competition in the NASCAR Cup Series after the 2024 season but for now, he’s making at least one final attempt at competing in the Daytona 500.

On Wednesday morning, Truex hit the track for Cup Series opening practice ahead of qualifying at 8:15 p.m. ET. After getting some laps in with his No. 56 Bass Pro Shops Toyota for Tricon Garage, he spoke with FOX Sports‘ Regan Smith about his experience thus far.

“So far it’s been fun,” Truex said. “We’ve got a nice cast of characters on our car that have been around a long time. Bunch of really good guys. Got [crew chief] Cole [Pearn] to come back down to do it, so it’s been a lot of fun and hopefully we can have a good night tonight and a good night tomorrow night and have some fun on Sunday.”

Truex, 44, is hoping to make his 21st start in the Great American Race. What’s different this time around is that Truex isn’t guaranteed a spot in the field. There are 36 chartered cars at the track this week; The 56 car is not one of them. Truex has to race his way in as one of nine non-chartered open cars. The eight other open drivers are Anthony Alfredo, Justin Allgaier, Helio Castroneves, Jimmie Johnson, Corey LaJoie, B.J. McLeod, Chandler Smith and JJ Yeley.

Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports explained how the open cars can earn a spot in the 40-car field.

“The open drivers earn their spots in two ways. They can either get in by being the highest-finishing open driver in their qualifying race on Thursday. Or if they don’t advance through their qualifying race, they can get in by being one of the top-two open cars [not including those who advanced through the qualifying race] in single-car qualifying on Wednesday.”

Martin Truex Jr. has to race his way into Daytona 500 field

Castroneves, the four-time Indy 500 champion making his NASCAR debut, is locked into the field through the new open exemption provisional, which allows a 41st spot for a world class driver from another series to make the field should they fail to qualify naturally. But if Castroneves qualifies naturally, then it will remain a 40-car field, and five open drivers will miss the race.

Truex’s speed will be the difference between making the field or going home early. The good news is that Pearn, Truex’s crew chief during his 2017 Cup championship-winning season, is back atop the pit box. The two have picked up right where they left off, Truex said.

“Some things never change,” Truex said. “Pick up right where we left off, so it’s been fun so far. Happy I was able to talk him into doing it, hopefully he’s excited about it too. Seems like he is, so it’s been a lot of fun.”