Report: Martin Truex Jr. to announce NASCAR retirement

Martin Truex Jr. is expected to announce his retirement from NASCAR after spending more than two decades in the sport, according to Jordan Bianchi.

Truex, 43, contemplated walking away in the past few years, but has decided to leave the sport after the 2024 Cup Series season following a highly decorated career. Truex has won 34 races across 19 seasons in NASCAR’s premier series, including two Coca-Cola 600s and a Southern 500.

He reached the mountain top in 2017 driving the No. 78 Toyota for Furniture Row Racing, winning his first and only Cup Series championship. Truex tallied eight checkered flags that season and capped it off with a victory in the season finale at Homestead-Miami.

“It’s just overwhelming,” Truex said at the time. “To think about all the rough days and bad days, the days that I couldn’t run 20th; to be here, I never thought this day would come and to be here is so unbelievable.”

Truex’s success continued the following year as he finished runner-up to Joey Logano — his last season with Furniture Row. Furniture Row closed up shop at the end of the 2018 campaign and soon thereafter, Truex signed a deal with Joe Gibbs Racing to pilot the No. 19 Toyota. Truex finished second again in 2019 and 2021 and has remained one of the Cup Series’ most consistent drivers all the way up to and through the current season.

Next stop for Martin Truex Jr.: NASCAR Hall of Fame

In addition to his Cup Series career, Truex had one of the better careers in the history of the Xfinity Series. He captured back-to-back Xfinity Series championships in 2004 and ’05 and won 13 races in 104 starts. Truex was named one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers last year and is a shoo-in for the NASCAR Hall of Fame when he becomes eligible.

Truex exits the sport at a time where there’s a ton of young talent already in the field and coming through the ranks.

“I think there is a lot of talent, a lot of young talent around which is great,” Truex said earlier this year. “I think the sport is in a great place. And there is going to be a lot of competitive drivers for a long time to come. They are good for the sport – hard-nosed racers that get it. The family names are still going for a lot of them. It’s been fun to see the change over the years with the older drivers going out and the younger drivers coming in.”