As Martin Truex Jr. announced he’ll be retiring from full-time competition at the end of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series campaign, some fascinating stories are coming to light about his lengthy career.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has known Truex Jr. longer and better than most in NASCAR, and he dropped a wonderful nugget during the latest episode of his Dale Jr. Download show. Evidently, when Earnhardt Jr. was at Hendrick Motorsports, he was “begging” Rick Hendrick to bring Truex Jr. to their stable.
“You know, I think that the No. 19 car is a championship car, a top-five car. Martin is a really, really good race car driver, so we’ll see just how much of that he was doing, to keep that car up front, right? When that car switches drivers and the performance changes for the better or worse — I’m just saying, it acknowledges the ability of the previous driver,” Earnhardt Jr. stated. “Either for the better or worse, in the public opinion, at least. So we’ll find out how — we’ll find out what I think, and that’s Martin is very good.
“When I went, I forget what was happening over at Hendrick. Maybe Mark [Martin] was leaving, or Mark was going away. I was begging Rick to hire Martin Truex Jr. to come there, because I thought, ‘Man, Martin Truex Jr., me and him in the same building together would’ve been awesome,’ and I thought that Rick would’ve loved what Martin could do over there. But that’s how much I think of the guy’s ability.”
What a wild turn of events that would’ve been, if Truex Jr. was able to follow Earnhardt Jr. to Hendrick Motorsports. Of course, the duo were teammates up until 2007 at Dale Earnhardt Incorporated, before a messy exit led Earnhardt Jr. to do the unthinkable and join Hendrick Motorsports.
After Earnhardt Jr. chose to join Hendrick prior to the 2008 campaign, Truex Jr. remained at DEI for two more seasons, his final one after a merger with Chip Ganassi Racing. Eventually, Truex Jr. would move to Michael Waltrip Racing ahead of the 2010 Cup Series campaign.
The timeline certainly makes sense though. When Earnhardt Jr. joined Hendrick, the team already had Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon locked in for the future, but the status of their fourth car was up in the air, as Mark Martin took over the No. 5 Chevrolet.
While Martin was up there in age, he was simply racing too well to move out of the seat. Evidently, the timing never worked out for Truex Jr. and Hendrick, as it would be Kasey Kahne who eventually replaced Martin, and he had some successful seasons with the team.
In the end, we’re betting Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr. wouldn’t have changed a thing. While it would’ve been awesome for them to be teammates, Truex Jr. ended up being a late-bloomer, and elevating his game with one of the all-time great seasons in NASCAR Cup Series history, capturing a championship with Furniture Row Racing.
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