By David Morgan, Associate Editor
LEBANON, Tenn. – Will he stay or will he go? That has been the question of late for Martin Truex Jr’s tenure in the NASCAR Cup Series.
After being noncommittal on his future behind the wheel of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, the 2017 series champion announced his decision Friday at Nashville Superspeedway with three simple words.
“I’ll be back.”
Truex explained that over the course of the past six months, he had taken a lot of time to look back over his career and look toward the future to figure out whether being a part of NASCAR’s top division was where he really wanted to be. Ultimately, it his competitive side won out and he made the choice to give it another go, at least for another year.
“I never had my mind set up,” Truex said. “I just hadn’t. I felt like it was an opportunity for me to look at everything. I’ve never really done that before. I’ve always just, just did what I was doing. And I just wanted to make sure if I did, you know, if I keep going that I’m gonna be happy with that decision. And I’ve got the opportunity to do the things on the racetrack that I want to do. It all feels great. I’m happy. We’ll see what we can do from here.”
Just shy of his 42nd birthday, Truex added that taking the extra time he needed to reflect on the decision opened his eyes to what his life would look like without being a full-time Cup driver and helped sway him to stay for what will be his 18th full-time season in the series.
“At the end of the day, it’s really all about if I want to keep going and doing what I’ve been doing. You know, will I be happy in a year? Is it what I really, really want to do? And at the end of the day, this is what I really want to do right now.
“I just felt like I wanted to take the opportunity to explore my options and what it would look like either direction. If I went and did something else or, you know, didn’t race Cup full-time. Basically, what my life would look like and things would look like. I mean, there were some things in there that were surprising, some things that weren’t surprising. Just, you know, something, like I said, I’ve never done that before. I’ve never even thought about it until this year. You know what I mean? So, it’s cool to do that.”
Truex added that while his team has yet to win a race thus far in 2022, he is confident they are on the cusp of being able to turn the corner and…
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