Getty Martin Truex Jr. will hit a career milestone at WWTR.
The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry is about to celebrate a special milestone. Martin Truex Jr. will make his 600th career start at World Wide Technology Raceway while joining a prestigious list of NASCAR drivers.
There are 31 NASCAR drivers that have made 600 career starts in the Cup Series. Truex will become the 32nd when he suits up for the Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter on June 5 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1). He will move one start closer to James Hylton, who holds the 31st spot on the all-time starts list with 602. Tony Stewart is 30th overall with 618 starts.
Truex will have the opportunity to surpass both Hylton and Stewart during the 2022 season. He will end the year with 621 career starts barring any unexpected circumstances, which will put him in line to pass both Dale Earnhardt Jr. (631) and Buck Baker (635) if he returns to the Cup Series in 2023.
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Only 3 Active Drivers Have More Starts Than Truex
GettyMartin Truex (left) and Kyle Busch (right) are on a prestigious list.
There are 31 drivers ahead of Truex on the all-time starts list, and Richard Petty holds the top spot with 1,184 starts in his Hall of Fame career. However, there are only three active drivers ahead of Truex.
JGR teammate Kyle Busch is currently in the 29th spot on the all-time starts list with 620 Cup Series races. Kevin Harvick is 12th with 768 starts, and Kurt Busch is 11th with 770 career Cup Series starts.
Ryan Newman is also technically ahead of Truex on the list of active drivers. He is not retired, and he reached 725 career Cup Series starts during the 2021 season. However, he does not have a seat for the 2022 season.
Another driver will join the list of those with more than 600 starts during the 2022 season. Denny Hamlin enters the World Wide Technology Raceway weekend with 592 starts, and he will hit 600 before the end of the year.
Truex Will Pursue Another Important Goal at WWTR
When Truex suits up for the Cup Series race at WWTR, he will join a prestigious list of drivers. He will also pursue another important goal while taking on a track where he has a previous Xfinity Series win.
Truex is currently 28th on the all-time wins list with 31 trips to Victory Lane in his Cup Series career. He is ahead of three drivers with 28 career wins — Carl Edwards, Joey Logano, and Rex White — and he can move into a tie with a Hall of Famer by winning another race.
Dale Jarrett is the driver just ahead of Truex on the all-time wins list. The North Carolina native has 32 career Cup Series wins and the 1999 championship on his resume. Fellow Hall of Famer Fireball Roberts holds the 26th spot on the list with 33 career wins.
Truex has yet to reach Victory Lane in 2022 after posting a four-win season in 2021, but he has been in contention multiple times. He has six top-10 finishes through 14 races, which includes a fourth-place finish at Richmond Raceway and a fifth-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway.
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