Former NASCAR Cup Champion Will Announcement Retirement Friday: Reports

NASCAR’s oldest active full-time driver on the Cup circuit is calling it quits.

Martin Truex Jr., 43, will announce his retirement at a press conference Friday at Iowa Speedway according to multiple reports. Truex has been a full-time Cup driver since 2006 and won his only championship with Furniture Row Racing in 2017.

The Athletic, which was first to report the news Thursday, reports that Truex “seriously mulled retirement for the past few years” before reaching his decision. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver had been racing on a series of one-year contracts in recent years, leaving his future up in the air as a new generation emerged.

According to Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass, “JGR wanted an answer now as there are several drivers without contracts for 2025, and JGR didn’t want to lose a chance to land a driver while waiting on a Truex decision.”

Truex came on the scene as the son of an unheralded professional racer from New Jersey who made 15 starts in the former Busch Series (now the Xfinity Series) from 1989-98.

The younger Truex earned two straight Busch Series championships in 2004-05, earning a full-time promotion to NASCAR’s highest circuit in 2006. He took over the No. 1 car on a full-time basis for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and garnered two top-five finishes on the year.

Truex won the annual Cup race in Dover, Delaware in 2007 en route to 34 victories on the circuit — and counting. He enters Sunday’s inaugural Iowa Corn 350 ranked No. 5, with a chance at contending for his second career championship.

After the 2009 season, Truex left Earnhardt Ganassi Racing (the NASCAR successor to DEI) to drive the No. 56 Toyota Camry for Michael Waltrip. He moved to Furniture Row Racing in 2014 and would record a top-four finish with them in 2015.

The 2017 season was Truex’s most dominant, and ended with a championship-clinching race at Miami. It was the peak of a career that will likely result in NASCAR Hall of Fame enshrinement once Truex is eligible two years after his retirement.

Truex made his fourth Championship Four appearance in his first season with Gibbs’ team in 2019. The following year saw him miss the Championship Four for the first time since 2016 and finish seventh, but he rebounded with a runner-up finish to Kyle Larson in 2021.

Truex missed the playoffs again in 2022 but rebounded in 2023 to finish fifth in the final points standings.

According to Pockrass, Stewart-Haas Racing driver Chase Briscoe is the top candidate to replace Truex in the No. 19 JGR Toyota Camry.