Martin Truex Jr.’s Big Week Continues With Prestigious Achievement

Martin Truex Jr. snapped his 54-race winless streak at Dover Motor Speedway on May 1. One day later, he added another prestigious achievement to his NASCAR resume.

According to an announcement from NASCAR, Truex is the latest addition to the list of 75 Greatest Drivers. He is the second active Joe Gibbs Racing driver to join this list, following teammate Denny Hamlin, and he brings along three championships in the national NASCAR series.

Truex’s Cup Series career started with some struggles and a long winless drought that lasted from 2007 until 2013. However, he has been one of the most consistent drivers in NASCAR since the 2015 season. 30 of his 32 career Cup Series wins have been in this time period, and he has delivered five seasons with at least four trips to Victory Lane. This includes 2017 when he won eight races and ended the year as a champion.

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Truex Has Championships in Multiple NASCAR Series

Truex is best known for his success in the Cup Series, and rightfully so considering his production and consistency. He has 10 winning seasons, and he has only failed to qualify for one Cup Series race in his career.

Just look at Truex’s average finish of 15.2 over 632 Cup Series starts. It is better than such drivers as Christopher Bell, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney, Buddy Baker, and Bill Elliott among many others.

Of course, being added to the list of Greatest Drivers takes into account production in other series. This only benefits Truex considering that he has two more championships from another national series.

Truex, who has 104 career starts in the Xfinity Series, only ran two full-time seasons before moving up to the Cup Series. He made the most of his opportunities with Chance 2 Motorsports.

Truex captured 12 of his 13 wins in those two seasons, and he celebrated back-to-back championships while besting such names as Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle, Ron Hornaday Jr., Clint Bowyer, Carl Edwards, Hamlin, and Reed Sorenson.

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Truex Can Only Add To His Career Totals

Truex has achieved a considerable amount of success during his time in the national NASCAR series. He is on the shortlist of drivers with wins in all three series, and he has three total championships to his name.

Truex can only add to his career totals after joining the list of NASCAR’s Greatest Drivers. He has 25 races remaining in the 2023 season, which features trips to tracks where he has numerous wins. This includes examples in Sonoma Raceway, Martinsville Speedway, Watkins Glen International, Darlington Raceway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Another prominent track where Truex could continue stacking wins is Kansas Speedway. He only has two trips to Victory Lane at the intermediate track, but both took place in 2017 as he swept the season. He also has posted top-10 finishes in the last seven races at Kansas Speedway.

Will Truex return for the 2024 Cup Series season and pursue more wins and another championship? He hasn’t provided any indication, but team owner Joe Gibbs has confirmed that his goal is to get the 2017 Cup Series champion back for another run in the No. 19 Toyota Camry TRD.

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