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Martin Truex Jr. reflects after final race as full-time Cup Series driver at Phoenix

JHby: Jonathan Howard11/11/24Jondean25
Martin Truex Jr. Phoenix wave
Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Tonight was the final race for Martin Truex Jr. as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver. The former champion reflected a bit afterward. Phoenix started out great but did not end as Truex pictured it.

Martin Truex Jr. is going to go to the Hall of Fame. He has accomplished so much in the sport. With his final race with Joe Gibbs Racing and the No. 19 team behind him, he enters a new chapter.

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Here is what Truex Jr. had to say about his day on the track.

“Kind of lately just qualify good and then the hotter the track gets, the more rubber goes down, the more we struggle,” Truex explained, via Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. “So, I don’t know what we got going on there. Yeah, I wish we could have put some tires on the end at least and had a shot to go forward. It wasn’t much fun at the end running on old tires.”

When asked about his emotions, Martin Truex Jr. smiled. He thinks everyone wants him to feel a certain way, but he can’t help but feel happy.

“Still not sad, man. Everybody wants me to be sad, I’m happy. I’m celebrating. It’s been uh, I’ve got a lot to be thankful for, a lot to be proud of,” he said. “Go enjoy some time off here, and do the angling all that stuff. It’s going to be fun to come back in a different role and you know, come race for fun. Hopefully be able to have fun, I don’t know, so hard to have fun when you take it this serious. You know I was having fun earlier today then we got miserable. I was hoping today would go better because it’d be more fun but uh, we’ll see, I’m looking forward to Daytona.”

Martin Truex Jr. started on the pole for the last two races of the season. He did not finish in the top-10 in either of those races. That is more or less how this season has gone for Truex.

The good news is, Truex will return for the Daytona 500. It’s almost like he’s not leaving at all! But we won’t be seeing him every week in the Cup Series. There are a lot of fish waiting to be caught by the 2017 Cup Series champion.