Truex officially announced his intentions to step away from the NASCAR Cup Series at the end of the 2024 season in a press conference at Iowa Speedway on Friday afternoon.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has amassed 34 NASCAR Cup Series wins over his 673 starts to date, he was the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion, and before making the move to the Cup Series full-time in 2006, Truex was a back-to-back champion in the NASCAR Busch Series (now known as the NASCAR Xfinity Series).
Those numbers are certainly NASCAR Hall of Fame-worthy, and when you look at the statistical totals from Truex’s career, you’d expect it was smooth sailing as the driver from Mayetta, New Jersey got to this point.
It was far from that.
After winning the NASCAR Busch Series championship in 2004 and 2005, Truex was promoted to the NASCAR Cup Series full-time with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. in 2006. Unfortunately for Truex, the once proud organization was not what it once was when he arrived.
Truex would score his first career NASCAR Cup Series win in the Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Speedway on Monday, June 4, 2007. Truex, driving the No. 1 Chevrolet for DEI, would lead 216 of the race’s 400 laps that day en route to the stirring win.
However, as Dale Earnhardt Jr. departed the team after the 2007 NASCAR Cup Series season, and Dale Earnhardt Inc. went through a slew of mergers and ownership transfers, the good results on track diminished for Truex.
After a 23rd-place finish in the championship standings with the rebranded Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team in 2009, Truex departed the team to drive the No. 56 entry for Michael Waltrip Racing.
From 2010 to 2012, while he didn’t pick up any wins with Michael Waltrip Racing, Truex and the No. 56 team steadily improved year-in and year-out as Truex ranked 22nd in the NASCAR Cup standings in 2010, 18th in 2011, and 11th in 2012, which tied his career-best at the time, which he set in his Sophomore season of 2007.
After much uncertainty, Truex was finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel at Michael Waltrip Racing, and the 2013 season was set to be his breakout year.
