With the recent announcement that Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. will be retiring from full-time racing at the end of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, there could not be a better time to look back at the future NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee’s career.
There are plenty of races that one could watch to admire Truex’s natural ability (his dominant win at the 2016 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway comes to mind, where he led 392/400 laps). But let’s take a look at two potentially forgotten wins by the soon-to-be 44-year-old driver: the 2005 and 2006 International Race of Champions series finales at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
2005
IROC XXIX was the 29th season of the Crown-Royal-sponsored historic series. For readers that may be unfamiliar with the series, IROC was a four-race season made up of drivers who had won a racing championship of some sort in their respective series. The drivers would pilot identical equipment — with no spotters — through a point-based system. At the end of the brief season, one champion driver would be crowned the champion of champions.
The 2005 season consisted of 12 drivers from eight different racing series: Scott Pruett (Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series), Sébastien Bourdais (Champ Car World Series), Hélio Castroneves (Indy Racing League), Bobby Hamilton (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series), Mark Martin (NASCAR Nextel Cup Series), Truex (NASCAR Busch Series), Steve Kinser (World of Outlaws), Buddy Rice (IRL), Max Papis (Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series), Matt Kenseth (NASCAR Cup), Danny Lasoski (World of Outlaws) and Kurt Busch (NASCAR Cup).
Martin won the series opener at Daytona International Speedway, while Bourdais took the checkered flag in race two, held at Texas Motor Speedway. Martin again claimed victory in race three, coming at Richmond International Raceway (now Richmond Raceway), and Truex won the season finale at Atlanta.
The race in Atlanta (Oct. 29) was your classic IROC race. From the drop of the green flag, the field of experienced drivers battled door-to-door in identical Pontiac Trans Ams.
Truex started ninth but quickly dropped from the outside lane to the inside, racing three-wide with Martin and Hamilton. Utilizing the draft, Truex moved up via the inside line to fifth place. Quickly, he jumped up into the outside line to follow a hard-charging Martin to the front of the pack.
Coming out of turn 2, Truex brushed the outside wall. However, the contact…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …