Martin Truex Jr. plans to retire from Cup racing after the 2024 season, capping a career that includes the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series championship and currently 34 Cup wins.
The Athletic first reported his decision Thursday afternoon and FOX Sports has confirmed with sources who have knowledge of the decision. Truex is expected to announce his decision Friday during his scheduled media availability at Iowa Speedway. Joe Gibbs Racing had no comment.
Truex, who turns 44 later this month, has competed full time in Cup since 2006 with 32 of his victories coming since 2015. He is winless so far in 2024 but sits fifth in the overall Cup standings in what now will be the final season of a career that should land him in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
The JGR driver has been on a series of one-year deals the past few years and admittedly struggles with the decision each year. JGR wanted an answer now as there are several drivers without contracts for 2025, and JGR didn’t want to lose a chance to land a driver while waiting on a Truex decision.
Current Stewart-Haas Racing driver Chase Briscoe, who became available when SHR announced two weeks ago that it would shut down at the end of the season, is the top candidate to replace Truex. He has one career win in 124 Cup starts and sits 17th in the current Cup standings. He won nine Xfinity Series races in a breakout season in 2020.
Truex won back-to-back Xfinity Series titles in 2004-05 for Chance 2 Motorsports (the precursor to JR Motorsports) and went to Cup to drive for Dale Earnhardt Inc., which eventually merged with Chip Ganassi Racing. He had appeared to find a home at Michael Waltrip Racing, but the 2013 race manipulation scandal at Richmond (which Truex was unaware of and had no direct part in) resulted in the team losing sponsorship for Truex.
That was a pivotal moment, as Truex joined Furniture Row Racing in 2014 and won a Cup title for the organization in 2017. The team shut down after 2018, and Truex has driven for JGR for the last six years.
Truex has 146 top-5 finishes in 673 career Cup starts.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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