Birth Date: June 29,1980 Hometown: Mayetta, NJ
Team: No. 19 Toyota Camry Coupe / Joe Gibbs Racing
A lot has changed for Martin Truex Jr. for the 2019 NASCAR Cup
Series season.
In his rst season with Joe Gibbs Racing, Truex started somewhat
disappointingly with a 35th place nish at the Daytona 500, but he
quickly made up for that pedestrian start.
That race preceded ve straight top tens, and ultimately, 2019 would
include four wins at Richmond, Dover, Charlotte, and Sonoma. Now,
he’ll start 2020 with James Small as his crew chief.
His teammate, Kyle Busch, acknowledged how hard Truex can be to
beat when he’s running well. This came after Truex win at Sonoma.
“Sucks nishing second to a teammate but it’s good for the company,”
Busch said. “Martin’s really, really good here so I’m just pumped that I
actually ran good here.”
Truex’s victory at Sonoma came by just 1.8 seconds after a ten second
win in 2018. However, no other drivers were within 20 seconds of the
top two when the checkered ag dropped this past season.
The 2017 Series Champion has a new home with Joe Gibbs Racing.
While he got a new car number 19 and a new boss, Truex hardly
noticed the difference since his former team, Furniture Row Racing, was
a satellite team for JGR. When Furniture Row decided to close, the only
thing that actually changed was Truex’s work address.
FRR got cars and technical information from Joe Gibbs.
“It’s been a good run, and I hate to see it come to an end, but
everything ends somewhere and things change,” Truex said before
the 2019 season.
Truex replaced Daniel Suarez, turning JGR from an elite team to a
superpower. He has Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Erik Jones and Matt
DiBenedetto as ofcial teammates. DiBenedetto drives for Leavine
Family Racing, which became JGR’s new satellite team when Furniture
Row shut down.
Gibbs scored a hot driver as Truex won the Cup Series Championship
in 2017, and he was second in 2018. His second-place nish in 2019,
while personally disappointing, continued to cement his status as a top
driver on the circuit.
Truex won just one race in his rst two years with FRR, but he and crew
chief Cole Pearn turned things around in 2016. Together they won 16
races in their nal three years ago Furniture Row.
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Pearn joined him at JGR but announced after the 2019 season that he
would leave Truex and the JGR team.
“I’m extremely proud of everything we’ve been able to accomplish
over the past few years out of Denver with FRR and the move to JGR
will make the transition for 2019 an easy one,” Pearn said before the
2019 season.
Truex won four times in 2018, but there were signs the team’s breakup
may have played a role in their second-half winless draught. All four
victories came in the rst half of the year. Oddly enough, he led 454 laps
in the rst 19 races and 562 in the second half. The only difference was
his ability to close the deal.
He still advanced all the way to the Championship 4 winner-take-all race
at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in November 2018, where he led the
race with 12 laps remaining, only to be passed by Joey Logano in the
stretch drive.
Finishing second in points was bittersweet for everyone involved with
Furniture Row. But Truex already knew he was jumping from one Toyota
Camry Coupe to an identical car.
Gibbs got a smooth transition in 2019. In fact, it’s more likely nobody
inside the JGR will noticed the difference. He now has 24 wins since
2015. Whoever replaces Pearn will have a lofty standard to uphold.
MARTIN TRUEX JR.
2019 FEATURED DRIVERS
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