Sport: Auto Racing
Born: June 29, 1980
Town: Mayetta, New Jersey
Maritn Lee Truex Jr. was born June 29, 1980 in Trenton and grew up Mayetta, a section of Stafford Township. His father owned a seafood supplier in Ocean County and raced on dirt tracks in the region. Martin grew up watching how his father’s hard work and attention to detail paid off in business and on the short tracks. By the time he got behind the wheel of his first go-kart as a teenager, racing was second nature. His younger brother, Ryan, came up the same way, too.
As soon as Martin turned 18, he moved into the Modified division and began racing at Wall Stadium. Two seasons later, in 2000, he was competing in NASCAR’s Eastern Series, at the time sponsored by Camping World. He drove the family’s #56 SeaWitch Chevy to 13 poles and 5 checkered flags. Martin also got a taste of Busch Series racing with a handful of starts in 2001 and 2002. He began racing full time on the Busch circuit in 2003 and won the championship in 2004 and again in 2005. During the 2004 season, Martin got his first ride in the top-flight Nextel Cup series. He entered the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 in Atlanta driving for Dale Earnhardt’s team, and finished 37th.
Martin began racing full-time for DEI in 2006 and finished a respectable 19th in the standings. In 2007, he won his first major event, the Nextel All-Star Challenge. Martin improved his year-end standing to 11th. He made headlines again in 2009, when he won the pole at the Daytona 500.
In 2010, Martin signed with Michael Waltrip Racing. He had a shot to win the Daytona summer race on the final lap, but fell short. Martin seemed poise to join the elite names in racing, but over his four years with the new team he had fewer ups than downs, finishing out of the Top 10 year-end standings every time.
In 2014, Martin signed with Furniture Row Racing in Denver, the only NASCAR team based west of the Mississippi. He turned in his finest year in 2015 when he notched 14 Top 10 finishes in his first 15 races. The last driver to accomplish this feat was Richard Petty, in 1969. Martin led many of these races for long stretches, only to fall back after poor restarts or late pit stops. Finally, in the Axalta 400 at Pocono Raceway, he took the checkered flag for just the third time in his Sprint Cup career. Martin qualified easily for the Chase for the Sprint Cup and made the final four. He finished the year 4th overall.
Martin began 2016 by turning in a dominant performance at the Daytona 500. He lost to Denny Hamlin by 1/100th of a second—the closest finish in race history. He followed later that season with a victory at the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte after leading the race for 588 miles—the most for any race in NASCAR history. He won two more races in 2016 to finish 11th. Martin’s giant leap forward would have to wait until 2017.
The 2017 season was marked by a new three-stage format. Championship points were awarded to the top finishers in each stage of a race, with the race winner being the driver who takes the checkered flag. At the third race of 2017, the Kobalt 400, Martin became the first driver to win all three stages of a race. He won again in May at the Go Bowling 400 at the Kansas Motor Speedway. The following month, Martin won his 10th stage at a point where no other driver had won more than four. In July, he captured all three stages again in winning the Quaker State 400. He won his fourth race in August at Watkins Glen. He clinched the regular-season title at the Southern 500.
NASCAR’s “playoffs” began in mid-September at the Chicagoland Speedway. Martin won the race to carve out an early lead in the Chase for the Cup. He won again at Charlotte and then two weeks later at Kansas (his fourth in a row at the track). He finished second, second, third and first in the final four races—the final victory at Homestead—to sew up the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship. In winning 20 of 108 stages, Martin logged one of the most consistently fine seasons in recent history.
Martin had another fine year in 2018, consistently finishing among the race leaders and winning the Auto Club 400 in Fontana, Pocono 400, Quaker State 400 and the Save Mart 350 road race at Sonoma. He made the playoffs and advanced to the Championship Four but couldn’t catch Joey Logano and finished runner-up. By then, Martin was already thinking about 2019—the Furniture Row team was disbanding.
Martin and his crew chief, Cole Pearn, moved over to Joe Gibbs Racing. He won his first-ever short-track race at Richmond in the spring and notched three more before the playoffs began. Martin had a shot at the title again and was leading the final race at Homestead, but a botched pit stop—the front right and left tires were switched—cost him a lap and he could not catch teammate Kyle Busch, who edged him for the title. Martin finally had an “off” year in 2020, winning just once during the season but still making the playoffs. He ended up 7th.
2021 found Martin back in the Championship Four after four victories during the season and a couple of close calls in the playoffs. In the championship race in Phoenix, he had a shot at a second title, but could not run down Kyle Larson in the final laps. It was Martin’s third second-place finish in fourth year.
In 2022, Martin started fairly well but lost his mojo in the second half of the season and finished 17th—out of the playoffs. He had considered retiring as the season drew to a close, but signed on for another year with the Gibbs team.