● Penultimate Weekend: After a 23rd-place finish last weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Truex sits 10th in the driver standings with 2,213 points heading to this weekend’s race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
● All three of Truex’s Martinsville wins in the NASCAR Cup Series have come during his time at JGR, which is in its sixth and final fulltime season. He has a total of four top-five finishes with the team at the .526-mile paperclip-shaped oval.
● Truex’s three Martinsville wins are included in his career totals of 10 top-fives and 16 top-10s at the track, and he’s led a total of 1,063 laps in 37 Cup Series outings there. Truex’s average Martinsville finish is 15.9.
● The Final Countdown: Martinsville is not only the penultimate race of Truex’s fulltime Cup Series career, but the final race for longtime partner Auto-Owners Insurance. Starting in 2016 when Truex drove for Furniture Row Racing, Auto-Owners has been a fixture on his car for the past nine years. In addition to the longtime partnership, Auto-Owners has been a proud supporter of the charity work Truex does through the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation with its generous support of many key charity initiatives during their time together.
● Looking for 35: Truex’s July 2023 win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon was his most recent Cup Series win, the 34th of his career, tying him with 2004 champion Kurt Busch for 25th on the all-time Cup Series win list.
● Ahead at this Stage: Truex has accumulated 64 stage wins since the beginning of the stage era in 2017. He is the only driver with 10 or more stage sweeps, with his latest sweep coming at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn in August 2023. Truex scored his fourth stage win of the season last month at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, leading the field across the line at the end of Stage 1.
Martin Truex Jr., Driver of the No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry XSE
How much confidence do you have when going to Martinsville?
“I think we got to a point with the old car that we had some things that really worked for me. We used to have it for a long time, and just did some fine tuning, tweaking here and there. Learning how to race and learning how to win at Martinsville, you learn a lot about the track and what it takes. Then they switched the car and that’s been a challenge for us. Two years ago, we were in trouble there, and then last two races there we were kind of hit-or-miss throughout the day. I feel like we are still trying to get some of that magic back of what I need there, what are things that kind of turn that switch for me there and do the things that I want it to. What I do know is that you really need to be upfront and be dialed in, so hopefully we can make that happen this weekend with our Auto-Owners Insurance Camry.”
How important is qualifying at Martinsville?
“It’s very important. All of the short tracks, qualifying has been huge from starting up front and having a good pit stall. You need both of those at Martinsville to be successful and we were able to win the pole there last fall, which is a huge help for the whole race. Track position is going to be everything.”
What are the challenges of racing at Martinsville as far as navigating it lap to lap and controlling your emotions there?
“The biggest thing is just the beating and banging that happens there and getting knocked out of the way. For me, I’ve really only had one issue there, which was getting taken out of the race at the end in 2018. It gets like that at Martinsville, it’s just a tough track. When it comes down to a few laps to go, you can go down there and blow the corner and run into somebody and can get the spot. That’s where the frustration comes from there, from a lot of drivers over the years.”
In recent years, you’ve raced at Martinsville at night as well as during the day. What’s the biggest difference between night and day racing there?
“It’s really not that different. The biggest change is just when it’s either warmer or cooler. I don’t think nighttime has changed it a whole bunch, maybe just slightly. A lot of it depends on the tire and if it puts rubber down. That’s really the game-changer from our standpoint, it changes the track more than anything. This race usually finishes under the lights, so it could factor into the end of the race and how your car is handling.”
● Event: XFINITY 500 (Round 35 of 36)
● Time/Date: 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, November 3
● Location: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway
● Layout: .526-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 500 laps/210.4 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 130 laps / Stage 2: 130 laps / Final Stage: 240 laps
● TV/Radio: NBC / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
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