In 17 full-time and two part-time seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series, Martin Truex Jr. ran in 693 races, completing 618 and winning 34 of them. Perhaps more impressive is that he posted those numbers despite running for underdog teams during most of his early career.
A look at Martin Truex Jr.’s Cup Series career
A 24-year-old Truex started his career with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. in 2004. He raced against drivers like Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon in his first outing. He ran only nine races in two part-time seasons, but he won the Xfinity series championship both years.
Truex won his first race in his second full-time season at Dover. He ran 117 races with DEI and one additional season after DEI morphed into Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.
In 2010, Truex moved to Michael Waltrip Racing where he would run 144 races with one win. His time there ended after the infamous ‘SpinGate’ incident in 2013. His sponsor, NAPA, withdrew from NASCAR, leaving Truex without a ride.
What seemed like a misfortune might actually have been the most important turning point in Truex’s career. Colorado-based Furniture Row Racing became a contender, especially after it switched to Toyota in 2016 and formed an alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing. Truex won 17 races with Furniture Row Racing, half of his total 34 wins.
Truex won the series championship in 2017. Given how the sport is changing, he is likely to be the last series champion from a one-car team. Truex moved to JGR after FRR closed at the end of the 2018 season. He ended his career as a 44-year old in 2024 with 15 more wins under the JGR banner.
Truex represented two manufacturers, running 225 races for Chevrolet and 468 for Toyota. Three of his wins came in Chevys, while the remaining 31 were in Toyotas.
Wins and Championships
Truex’s background gives important context for his stats. It’s unfair to compare him directly to drivers who spent their entire careers at top-level teams. Every company he raced for, except JGR, no longer exists.
Truex worked with nine different crew chiefs throughout his career. His two longest relationships were at JGR with James Small (180 races) and Cole Pearn (179 races). Truex also ran 130 races with Kevin ‘Bono’ Manion at DEI.
The majority of Truex’s wins (24 or 70.6%) came with Pearn on the pit box, giving the duo a 13.4% win rate. Truex won eight races (23.5%) with Small for a win rate of 4.4%. His first two wins were with Manion and Chad Johnston.
Truex completed 618 — 89.2% — races running. Of his 75 DNFs, 68% were due to accidents and 22.7% were attributed to engine issues. Mechanical failures are responsible for the remainder of his career DNFs.
Truex’s career win rate is 4.9%. That’s comparable to Bill Elliott (5.3% over 827 races), Ernie Irvan (4.8% over 313 races) and Dale Jarrett (4.8% over 668 races.)
If you consider only the latter stages of Truex’s career (2016 to present, all with Toyota), he has a 9.6% win rate. His peak period, with Pearn crew chiefing, had a win rate of 13.4% the same rate as Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus.
In addition to his championship in 2017, Truex finished second in the final standings three times: 2018, 2019 and 2021. He finished seven of the seventeen full-time seasons in the top 10 (41.2%.) and four seasons in the top five. In only three years of full-time competition did Truex finish out of the top 20.
Truex and Tracks
Truex’s wins span 16 different tracks, from Martinsville to Fontana. He won four times each at Sonoma, a road course, and Dover, a 1-mile, high-banked track. Those two tracks account for 23.5% of all his wins. His second-best tracks are Charlotte, Martinsville, and Richmond, with three wins at each track.
Truex has 12 wins at 1.5-mile intermediate tracks and 15 wins at tracks under 1.5 miles. Of the 15 short track wins, 11 took place at ovals between a mile and 1.49 miles.
There is one gap in Truex’s record: He never won a superspeedway race. He might remedy that in 2025, when he attempts to run the Daytona 500 by re-teaming with Pearn.
Beyond Wins
Truex had a 15.0 average finish across his 17 full-time seasons. That’s comparable to Tim Richmond (15.2) and Darrell Waltrip (15.1 average finish.) In his peak years with Pearn crew chiefing, Truex’s average finish was 11.2.
When Truex didn’t win, he often came close. He had:
- 65 top-2 finishes (9.4%). Compare that to Dale Jarrett at 9.6% or Dale Earnhardt Jr. at 9.2%.
- 104 top-3 finishes (15.0%), again, comparable to Earnhardt, Jr. at 14.9%.
- 147 top-five finishes (21.2%). That’s similar to Ricky Rudd (21.4%) and Bill Elliott (21.2%.)
- 291 top-10 finishes (42.0%). again, that’s comparable to Ricky Rudd 41.2%
Fun Facts
Truex had four different car numbers in the Cup Series. He ran:
- 216 races in the 19
- 180 races in the 78
- 163 races in the 1
- 144 races in the 56
Truex ran 190,198 laps and 254,857.3 miles over his NASCAR Cup Series career. That’s the equivalent of:
- 105 trips from Charlotte to Los Angeles via I-40 and US 84.
- 16.1 million Martinsville hotdogs laid end to end.
- Driving around the Earth, at the equator, 10.2 times.
- Driving from the Earth to the Moon (226,000 miles at perigee, 251,000 miles at apogee) and still run a couple thousand more miles once he got there.
The most wins Truex ever had in a single year was eight, in his 2017 championship year.
