Martin Truex Jr. Needs 1 Win To Move Up Important List

Getty Martin Truex Jr. (right) has won 14 races for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Martin Truex Jr. has won twice during the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season. One more trip to Victory Lane, and he will tie a Hall of Famer on an important list.

The New Jersey native is currently sixth all-time on the list of drivers that have won for Joe Gibbs Racing. 14 of his 33 career Cup Series wins have been in the No. 19 Toyota Camry.

Truex is now one win behind Matt Kenseth, who won 15 of his 39 career races in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing entry. The rest were with Roush.

Bobby Labonte is fourth on the list with 21 wins for Joe Gibbs Racing while Tony Stewart is third with 33 of his 49 career Cup Series wins. Denny Hamlin is second with all 49 of his Cup wins, and Kyle Busch tops the list with 56 of his 63 career wins.

Truex First Won for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2019

GettyMartin Truex Jr. celebrates a win at Martinsville Speedway in 2019.

The current points champion, Truex made his move to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2019 after Furniture Row Racing ceased operations. He took over the No. 19 from Daniel Suarez while crew chief Cole Pearn followed him to the championship-winning organization.

This first season was a success by nearly every measure. Truex won seven races in the No. 19 Toyota, starting with Richmond Raceway. He also captured a Crown Jewel by winning the Coca-Cola 600 for the second time in his career.

Truex made it to the playoffs, and he worked his way through the rounds with wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Richmond Raceway, and Martinsville Speedway. He then set out to win the second championship of his career.

Truex ultimately fell short by one spot. Then-teammate Kyle Busch led the final 45 laps at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and he crossed the finish line first to win his second championship.

Crew Chief Changes Did Not Disrupt Truex

GettyMartin Truex Jr. won 4 races during the 2021 season.

The 2019 season came to an end with a second-place finish in the championship race. The 2020 season then began with a major change on the No. 19 team. Pearn retired from NASCAR, which forced Joe Gibbs Racing to turn to a new crew chief.

James Small, the former lead engineer on the No. 19 team, landed a promotion after Pearn’s departure. He took over the pit box and began making critical decisions every weekend of the NASCAR season.

The first season of this pairing only featured one win — the spring race at Martinsville — but Truex finished inside of the top 10 on 23 different occasions. He also secured 14 top-five finishes during the COVID-altered season.

The first three seasons of the Truex-Small pairing had high and low points alike. They celebrated four wins together in 2021, and they finished second in the championship standings behind Kyle Larson. They went winless in 2022 and missed the playoffs despite performing consistently all season long.

The 2023 season has seen a return to the winning ways. Truex and the No. 19 team kicked off the year with a win at the LA Memorial Coliseum and then they celebrated at Dover Motor Speedway and Sonoma Raceway.

Truex is now atop the points standings with 10 races remaining in the regular season. He is within reach of the regular-season championship, which includes 15 bonus points once the playoffs begin.