LOUDON — NASCAR is a fast sport, but sometimes things come slow. Such was the case for NASCAR Cup Series driver Martin Truex, who finally broke through with his first win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last year in his 30th attempt at the track.
Truex, who announced last week he will retire from racing full-time at season’s end, will make his final trip to the Magic Mile this weekend. He looks to pick up a win in the USA TODAY 301 to close out his visits to a track that means a lot to him and his family.
“I’ve been going (to New Hampshire Motor Speedway) for a long time,” he said. “I’ve raced there every year since 2000. I won my first (Busch) North (Series) race there, and I won in the (Xfinity) series. The Cup win was one I’ve been after for a long, long time. To finally get it done last year was an unbelievable feeling.”
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Truex considers New Hampshire Motor Speedway one of his home tracks, as it is a place where he has competed throughout his racing career. He and his family have been coming and competing in Loudon since he was a teenager.
“For me, it’s such a big one,” Truex told Seacoast Media Group back in 2018. “It’s one I want so bad. Winning here would be — for me — like winning at Daytona.”
HIs victory last summer checked that box for Truex, who said at his retirement announcement last week that he feels like it is the right time to step away.
Truex looks to go out on a win at Loudon
Last week’s retirement news didn’t come as a surprise to most, as it was leaked in the media days before the actual announcement. Truex has been openly considering retirement the past couple seasons. With his retirement announced, the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion will spend the rest of the season on a victory lap of sorts for his career. It’s only fitting he returns to a track that means a lot to him for the first stop in that victory lap.
“It is definitely a special (track),” Truex said. “A lot of memories of going there as a kid. I’ve been going there most of my life, really. Probably 30 years. It was an important win for me to get, personally, because you always have tracks that you really want to win at, that would mean a lot to you, and that’s definitely the one. Very cool place to finally get it done.”
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Truex wants to win at every track he shows up at, so he doesn’t necessarily have more motivation when he comes to New Hampshire. However, he admitted there is a different feel when he returns to the track he knows so well.
“The personal connection to the place is what makes it feel different to me,” he said. “Every time I go there, I think of memories, and just how long I’ve been going there. Everything always feels so familiar.”
For much of his career, that familiarity could have bred contempt, as Truex came ever so close on multiple occasions, only to see his chances at a win slip through his fingers. He didn’t let those disappointments get him down, however, they only fueled his fire further to get to victory lane.
“I had a lot of heartbreakers and races where I thought we should’ve won or we were going to win and something happened.,” Truex said. “But winning there It reminded me of everything that happened between my first win there and finally getting that Cup win. That’s 23 years. That’s a long time, and a lot has happened.”
Truex confident his team can repeat in New Hampshire
Truex would love to go out with a win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but he knows that it’s not as easy as just doing the same thing he and his team did last year. In fact, in the 61 NASCAR Cup Series races held at the Magic Mile, only four drivers have won back-to-back races at the facility. But Truex is confident in his team and himself.
“I think we can. I feel like we’ve been good on short tracks in general this year, with our new Camry,” he said. “We’ve been really good at Loudon the last two years with the Next Gen car. It’s just going to be a matter of how do we adapt the changes we have now to what we did last year, and how does the track change. I’m really confident. We’ve got a really good team and things are going well. We just need to put it all together.”
He said the key to closing his career at Loudon with a second win will be his team’s ability to qualify up front, and manage changes in the track throughout the race.
“We just have to try to do what we did last year,” he said. “Track position is important. Our guys did a great job last year of putting it all together. That’s one of the things we’d lacked over the years. We’d qualify well, we’d run up front and we’d win the stages, but at the end of the race we wouldn’t be the fastest car anymore.”
Truex savoring final laps at tracks as he looks towards retirement
Sunday’s USA Today 301 will give fans a chance to see Truex off into the sunset of his career, but it will also give him a chance to say goodbye to a track, and a fanbase, that has supported him for his entire racing career, since long before his Cup Series debut.
“I would say I achieved more than I ever thought I would,” he said at his retirement press conference. “A championship, three runner-ups in this format, I’d say that’s really good. I’m proud of what I’ve done. I feel like I gave it everything I had. I feel like I was really, really good at what I did. I’m content. I feel good about this.”
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Truex’s farewell tour: Seeks 2nd straight win in NH in USA TODAY 301
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