Martin Truex Jr. has confirmed that he will retire from full-time racing at the end of the 2024 Cup Series season. That doesn't mean he is walking away from the sport and disappearing into the wilderness.
According to Joe Gibbs, who joined Truex for his announcement, the 2017 Cup champion will still be around the organization. He will just take on a new role that continues to develop behind the scenes.
"The great thing is Martin is going to continue with us," Gibbs said at Iowa Speedway. "He's going to be an ambassador for us and work on different projects and different things."
One of those things may be racing. Truex only specifically said during his press conference that he was not going to be back full-time.
A message to @MartinTruex_Jr from our friends at @BassProShops!#NASCAR pic.twitter.com/7jzHIMypbr
— Joe Gibbs Racing (@JoeGibbsRacing) June 14, 2024
Truex still left the door open for some part-time starts in the future, including a possible start in the Daytona 500, a crown jewel race he has not yet won.
"He's got Xfinity cars," Truex said while pointing to Gibbs. "'Coach, I'm bored. I want to go race.'"
If Truex remains open to racing in some capacity, why didn't he come back for another full-time season? He's still competitive, and he's once again in the mix for the regular-season championship.
Truex quickly confirmed that his reason was not performance-related. It has nothing to do with running out of gas at Sonoma Raceway or missing out on a win at other tracks this season.
The answer actually lies not in what Truex continues to achieve on the track but in what he has missed out on while winning races and championships.
"Everyone in my family that's ever gotten married, I missed their wedding," Truex said. "You know what I mean? Like, you don't have a life.
"You're married to racing. This is all you do Monday 'til Sunday. That's all you do. So it's just going to be interesting to lead kind of a normal life for a little while and see what that's like."
Truex will finish this season with Joe Gibbs Racing, and he will try to win his second Cup Series championship. Once the checkered flag flies, he will lie low for a little bit and maybe do some hunting and fishing. But rest assured, there will be times in the future when he is back at the race track.
"We're excited about going forward," Gibbs said. "I think now he's going to have a lot of opportunities, and some of them with us. I think as much as anything, he'll be setting his own schedule and kind of doing whatever he wants to do."