Preview
NASCAR Cup
300th cup start for Martin Truex Jr
Martin Truex Jr has hit a milestone in his career
Edited: Jun 1, 2018, 3:15 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Martin Truex Jr. will make his 300th career Sprint Cup Series start in Sunday’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
When informed about the upcoming milestone, the Furniture Row Racing driver said he was both surprised and grateful.
“I had absolutely no idea that my 300th start is coming up,” said Truex. “I’ve been blessed to be with some great race teams and have enjoyed plenty of fond memories.”
Truex, a two-time NASCAR Nationwide Series champion (2004 & 2005), started his first Cup race on Oct. 31, 2004 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He became a full-time Cup driver in 2006.
“Looking back it seems like a long time ago that I made my first start but it really wasn’t,” stated Truex.” They say when you’re having fun time flies, and in my case that is so true because I have had an incredible amount of fun over the years.”
Truex’s career starts to date include 117 with Dale Earnhardt Inc., 36 with Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, 144 with Michael Waltrip Racing and two with Furniture Row Racing. His statistical totals include: two wins, 31 top-fives, 90 top-10s, seven poles and 1,889 laps led.
When asked if he sees another 300 starts in his career, Truex didn’t blink as he quickly responded to the question.
“Oh yes, absolutely,” said a confident Truex. “I am only 33 and have a lot more years in me. I feel the best is still yet to come as a driver.”
Truex’s career has been marked by resiliency while growing into a Chase-caliber driver.
Martin Truex Jr., Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet
Photo by: Covy Moore
“I’ve had some tough breaks throughout my career, a lot of ups and downs,” noted Truex, a two-time Chase participant. “As I have said I’ve been with some great teams but it seemed like every time we were getting to where we wanted to go something bad happened to make it come to an end really quickly. Hopefully Furniture Row Racing will be my new home for a long time and we can get to where we want to go.”
Regarding favorite races or moments in his Cup career, Truex said, “The wins are big in my book and making the Chase for the first time in 2007. I have a lot of favorites.”
Truex, whose most recent Sprint Cup win came last year at the Sonoma, Calif. road course, is looking to make the Las Vegas race a memorable 300th start in his No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet.
“Las Vegas will be another good test to see where we are at with the new rules package for the 2014 car,” explained Truex. “The first two races have not turned out the way we had expected, but we’ve also had some positive signs. It would be nice to look back and remember how successful the 300th start was.”
In eight career starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Truex has had two top-10s with an average finish of 16.2. He has completed all but four laps in his career at Las Vegas for a completion record of 98.8 percent (2153 of 2157).
Furniture Row Racing
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Dale Earnhardt Jr. maintains momentum with second-place run at Phoenix
Next article Marcos Ambrose to bring new chassis to Las Vegas
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Chip Ganassi Racing
Herta endorses IndyCar’s international return with Barcelona while marveling at Palou’s dominance
IndyCar
IndyCar
Herta endorses IndyCar’s international return with Barcelona while marveling at Palou’s dominance
Five-time IndyCar champion, first-time Indy NXT driver: Alex Palou tops IMS road course test
Indy NXT
Indy NXT
Five-time IndyCar champion, first-time Indy NXT driver: Alex Palou tops IMS road course test
Barnes: Why IndyCar’s updated licensing system fails its own integrity test
IndyCar
IndyCar
Barnes: Why IndyCar’s updated licensing system fails its own integrity test
Latest news
Lewis Hamilton on why he is “built differently” to stay in F1 for the “foreseeable future”
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
Lewis Hamilton on why he is “built differently” to stay in F1 for the “foreseeable future”
"Slippery as hell" – Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar explain the "extreme" challenge of Mexico
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
1 h
"Slippery as hell" – Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar explain the "extreme" challenge of Mexico
Pato O'Ward questions promoters in Mexico after IndyCar Barcelona race confirmation
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 1 h
Pato O'Ward questions promoters in Mexico after IndyCar Barcelona race confirmation
Sergio Perez praises Colton Herta impact - but has no say over 2027 Cadillac F1 team-mate choice
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
2 h
Sergio Perez praises Colton Herta impact - but has no say over 2027 Cadillac F1 team-mate choice
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe