Martin Truex Jr. 2024 season in review

Editor’s note: This continues the series in which we review each 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs driver in reverse order of championship finish.

Season in review: Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Crew Chief: James Small
Final 2024 Ranking: 10th
Key stats: Five top fives, 11 top 10s, two poles, 555 laps led

How 2024 ended: Truex finished the year strong, earning back-to-back pole positions at Martinsville Speedway and then for the Phoenix season finale. Unfortunately for the popular retiring champion, the results didn’t live up to the promising starts, and he went winless for only the second season in the last decade. On the upside, his work was still good enough to earn a playoff position based on points. An uncharacteristically rough opening round — with races at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Watkins Glen International and Bristol Motor Speedway — meant an early exit from his final championship run. He ultimately finished the season ranked 10th.

RELATED: Truex through the years | Truex wins pole ahead of final full-time race at Phoenix

Best race: A season single race best 228 laps at the spring Richmond 400-miler was the most laps led by anyone on the day, but Truex finished fourth — his JGR teammate Denny Hamlin took the lead in overtime and led the final seven laps. His best finish in 2024 was runner-up in the spring Bristol race, where he led 54 laps and finished behind — you guessed it — Hamlin.

Other season highlights: Truex’s qualifying efforts this season were solid — four front-row starts, including those two late-season pole positions. Multiple times he challenged for race trophies and led double-digit laps only to fall short of that last victory as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver. His 555 laps out front marked the 10th consecutive season he led at least 500 laps. He scored multiple pole positions for the sixth time in his career — including the last two years. His 11 top-10 finishes concluded a 10-year streak of double-digit top 10s. He led the championship standings for three weeks and was ranked either first or second for 11 consecutive weeks between early March and late May.

Stat to know: The 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion — and two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champ (2004-05) — concludes a 19-year tenure as a full-time competitor in the series with 34 victories (26th on the all-time list), 147 top fives, 291 top 10s and 25 pole positions.

Quotable: “[In] my career, I think, what I’m most proud of is not a high probability I guess of doing the things I was able to do. Being able to be around in the Cup Series and in this garage as long as I have. The way it started and the way it ended are two completely different stories. Just the perseverance, I think. The hard work and how none of it came easy. My success in the Cup Series was certainly very, very difficult to achieve and so I’m very proud of that. But I’m also very thankful for the opportunities and the people I’ve gotten to work with. Just feel really grateful and lucky to be able to do what I did and have the success that we did.”

MORE: Admiration, respect aplenty as Truex sunsets full-time career

Looking ahead: The ultimate stop in front of Truex is a distinguished place in the NASCAR Hall of Fame — his dominant Cup Series title run and two Xfinity Series championships make him a sure bet as soon as he is eligible for consideration. In the meantime, although Truex is retiring from full-time competition, he has been very open to running select races at any of NASCAR’s national levels as well as late model events around the country. His JGR teammate Hamlin had offered to field a Toyota for him in the 2025 Daytona 500 — a race that Truex has never won — but that opportunity now appears uncertain. Of note, Truex’s former championship-winning crew chief Cole Pearn has agreed to lead Truex’s Daytona 500 effort, whatever it may be.