Martin Truex Jr Remains With Joe Gibbs Racing in 2024

What’s Happening?

The question that seems to keep getting asked year after year has gotten its answer (at least in this 2023 edition): Yes, Martin Truex Jr. will return to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2024 to drive the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota full-time! For some, this news might be surprising. Martin Truex Jr. has been wrestling with retirement the last number of seasons.

With Truex turning 43-years-old this year, he has arguably been in the winters of his career for the last couple of years. For others, however, Truex’s re-sign is a no-brainer, as he’s currently leading the regular season point standings and, despite not winning a race in 2022 and missing the playoffs, by the cutoff, he was still solidly 4th in the regular season standings of that year. Now that Truex has won not one, not two, but three races on the year (fun fact: two of those races were rain delayed races run on Mondays) it’s clear that Truex is having fun again and is interested in hunting for some more hardware.

You Need To Know:

• The keywords in Truex’s statement was that he was expected to run for JGR for AT LEAST one more year. This could indicate that JGR has placed in the agreement an option which could see MTJ return to JGR for one, two, or maybe even three more seasons before hanging up the old driving gloves.
• This is a big domino to fall for the 2023 NASCAR silly season, as it is one of the more interesting ones we’ve had in years. The potential for JHN to return to the Cup Series is seen as a real threat but with the No. 19 no longer being available, the young Nemechek will have to look elsewhere. Maybe LMC?
• On a morning of horrible controversy, this news was seen as welcome good news in the eyes of most NASCAR fans. MTJ, despite driving for Gibbs, is a pretty popular driver in NASCAR, many of his fans coming from his old DEI days with Dale Earnhardt Jr. It’s safe to say many of them are thrilled that he’ll be back and are looking forward to winning more races, this year and next.

In the interview above, as posted by Matt Weaver, Truex states that he intends to take it year by year. He jokingly stated that last year he made the decision in June, this year it was August, next year, don’t expect anything until October.

The Main Characters

Martin Truex Jr. took to Twitter to announce to his fans that his plans for 2024 have been confirmed.

Joe Gibbs seems to be very high on Martin Truex Jr., giving him a hard time a few weeks ago following his win at New Hampshire. No doubt, he’s glad to see him back.

Around The Garage

With the new MTJ deal, Ryan Truex will also make some runs in the Xfinity No. 19. The Dover winner is expected to run part-time at this time, but MTJ did state that they’d love to get him going full-time, so long as the sponsorships all come together to support him.

Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 Twitter account is thrilled that MTJ is returning for 2024!

In The Stands

Justin Champagne wonders whether or not 2024 will be his last…he didn’t say that, man.

Ryan Ostrander 8 suggests a pipedream I’ve always had. I’d love to see MTJ help get JRM off the ground, even if it’s only at a part-time capacity. But who knows? MTJ seems pretty content where he’s at.

Tracy Tomanio is excited to see MTJ return because he’s a great role model and mentor for the younger drivers. He does seem to have that Mark Martin quality to him, I must admit.

TXsquirrelfish is excited to see his favorite driver back at the track!

Jeanne Schmidt predicts a deep championship run for MTJ this year. That’s more than possible with how that team has performed.

Ann Schank offers another championship run for Truex and longs for that multi-year contract. Unfortunately, I think the days of MTJ signing multi-year deals are over. But yeah, I’m glad to see him back, too.

Eth’n is pumped!

Cw Roch wishes MTJ luck going forward.

On Your Screen

Out of the Groove host, Eric Estepp, comments on just how quietly the Truex deal was pushed through…you know, until we got our hands on it.