Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Martin Truex Jr Announces His Retirement

Transcript

Martin Truex Jr Announces His Retirement · Kenny Wallace Media

0:00
That's about the most nervous I've ever been coming in here.
0:03
But obviously if you've I guess the news has been on the
0:07
Internet all week. So you guys already know.
0:09
I don't even know why I'm here. But no, honestly here just to
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let you all know that I will not be back full time next year.
0:16
But I'm excited about the rest of the year, obviously, and it
0:21
means the world to me to see Johnny Morris here.
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He's been, you know, huge supporter of mine and, you know,
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I wouldn't have been able to do, you know, any of the things I've
0:30
been able to do without him being behind me 21 years.
0:32
So it's been it's been incredible.
0:35
It's been a hell of a ride. I'm I'm excited about the future
0:38
and not really sure what that looks like yet, but feel good
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about, you know, my decision. And I just want to thank coach
0:45
and everybody at JGR Toyota. They've been absolutely amazing
0:49
to, you know, to be able to win a championship is something I
0:53
always dreamed of and to be able to get that done was was amazing
0:56
and just feel really lucky to be surrounded by a lot of great
0:59
people over the years. So to all the guys I've worked
1:02
with, crew members, crew chiefs, team owners, you know, you name
1:07
it across the board, it's been it's been a true honor.
1:09
And I'll miss all those people for sure.
1:12
But I won't be gone. I'll be around still and we're
1:15
going to do some stuff together, have some fun and enjoy life a
1:19
little bit and wind down awesome.
1:22
And coach, I'll turn it over to you, too.
1:24
Well, obviously everybody has such great respect for Martin
1:28
and I did everything I could keep keep it going.
1:33
I think we got 243 year olds that are top of the game right
1:37
now. But just when you think about
1:41
this guy, he's won 34 races, 32 of them in a Toyota, which is
1:47
great. Even when I started researching
1:49
it, he won a truck race in a Toyota, so that was awesome.
1:55
He's got the 32 wins and of course 2 Xfinity championships.
2:01
He won those back-to-back, the 2017 Cup championship.
2:08
And so through all of those, it's been just absolutely great
2:14
working with him. I think everybody knows Martin's
2:17
reputation. A real gentleman, great
2:20
competitor, and it's obviously something that's going to be a
2:25
big deal for us and a big loss. So we talked about Johnny.
2:31
I can tell you that Johnny cares about a lot of lot of things.
2:37
Family first, but then he cares about America and our country.
2:43
And that's reflected on our race cars from time to time.
2:49
You can see it. He cares about America.
2:52
I think the other thing that Johnny cares about is veterans
2:56
and all those that has sacrificed for our country.
3:01
And I love the fact that we get to fly those colors lots of
3:04
times and honor the veterans so that we know that that's a huge
3:10
deal for him and it's a huge deal for us, too.
3:13
And then the outdoors, there's one thing about it.
3:17
Normally when I try and find Martin, he's someplace with
3:21
Johnny. And so I've kind of got used to
3:24
that. But they love the outdoors and
3:28
that's a big deal too for us. Now, to tell you a little story
3:32
on that, two years ago, if you remember, we're at Marsville and
3:37
the 19 cars fighting to get in the playoffs.
3:40
And so, and we did it, somehow we did it.
3:45
So we get in the playoffs, I'm there.
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I get a phone call from Johnny. And so I said, Johnny, we made
3:53
it. And he said, yeah, I know.
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And he's talking to me and he's whispering the whole time.
3:58
And so I went, Johnny, why are you whispering?
4:01
He goes, I'm in a dear blind. And then of course, he tortures
4:06
me, sends me pictures of streams and lakes and everything.
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I'll be working on the weekend and Johnny and someplace
4:13
outdoors enjoying everything. So just had a great time with
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Johnny. Obviously auto owners.
4:21
Two's been a big part of Martin. Matter of fact, I think he was
4:24
today earlier, a lot of their agents across the country.
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And when you see that big A coming at you, you know it's
4:35
auto owners and that's been a big deal sponsoring Martin and
4:40
us. And course that's been terrific
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for us. We also have research.
4:46
Mark is a racer himself and selling all their products and
4:51
delis and groceries all across the country.
4:54
We really appreciate them and all they done for our team.
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We always mention Interstate because they're our founding
5:03
sponsor and that's a huge deal for us.
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And of course, Toyota. I don't think any of us would be
5:10
here if it if it wasn't for Toyota.
5:14
Now there's some good news in all this.
5:17
The great thing is Martin is going to continue with us.
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He's going to be an ambassador for us, work on different
5:24
projects and different things. We haven't talked about all of
5:27
it yet, but I think there'll be a lot.
5:30
And if you noticed, when he originally teed everything up,
5:33
he said I won't be racing full times.
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So we might be able to talk him into a few things there, too.
5:41
His teammates are all here. The drivers, they're in the
5:44
background there. You got Denny, Christopher and
5:47
Ty, so they're here to kind of celebrate this time.
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And of course, James and the whole 19 team, they're working
5:58
hard. They're probably someplace, but
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that's a huge deal for him too. So for all of us, I think that
6:08
what we're really excited about is Martin continuing with us in
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the future. So I'm sure I'm probably going
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to have to find him someplace in a boat or with Johnny in a tree
6:22
blind someplace, but we're going to run him down.
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And so we're excited about the future.
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And I've talked a little too much, but it's all important to
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us and all those people that I just mentioned.
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It's a big deal for all of us. So we're going to continue our
6:40
relationship going forward. We're excited about that.
6:43
Just going to interrupt you first.
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I just wanted to come here to talk to you out of doing what
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you said. I just want to come here for a
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family. I'm talking about JP Kelly at
6:58
the whole Bass Pro family, 21 years.
7:01
And I just remember Martin as the first time we ever had
7:05
opportunity to really be on the hood of a car, especially for a
7:09
season. And Dale junior picked out
7:11
Martin. It was chance to Motorsports
7:13
Dale and Kelly and they picked this guy Martin Truex.
7:17
I met him in a tent in Atlanta. And you can have dreams in life.
7:22
We all have dreams. Sometimes they come true, a lot
7:25
of times they don't. It's a dream come true for
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everybody in our company, Martin.
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And you mean to have if you want to dream about a big fish or to
7:32
be a champion racing. One thing I just tell everybody
7:36
what you know, like when you align with somebody, your hope.
7:40
It's like our whole family, all these 21 years, not one time can
7:45
I ever think when you did anything to not make us not just
7:49
disappoint us, but not to make us fully proud of you, buddy,
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every way and with our customers to your love of the outdoors,
7:57
going to conservation events all the time and into just the
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excitement of every race, having a chance to win or be up front.
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Coach, I know you've done everything to keep this guy.
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And Martin, he's no regrets, buddy.
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Just Just be happy and know you make all of us so happy, so
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proud. And I just wanted to come here,
8:16
not just for me, but everybody in the Bass Pro family, tracker
8:20
family, our dealers, everybody just to say thank you very much
8:24
and congratulations on a heck of a heck of a run.
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But again, that's awesome. That's great.
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That's you too, Coach. Thank you, guys.
8:33
Thank you, man. Yeah, you bet.
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I did have a conversation with Martin.
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I told him, do you do realize every guy in America that's your
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age wants to do what you're doing?
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Race cars make a ton of money. I know that for a fact and and
8:51
have all the fun. So anyway.
8:53
Bob Parker is Fox Sports Martin. Why now?
8:57
I just felt like, you know, felt like the right time for me.
9:00
Honestly, I, I, you know, thought about it a lot in the
9:04
past few seasons and just waited for, waited for that, you know,
9:10
feeling in my mind to be positive like this is OK, I'm
9:14
good, I'm, I'm good. I, I want to do something else.
9:16
And yeah, just, you know, something just felt different
9:20
this year for me. And, you know, I felt like it
9:23
was time to slow down and do something else.
9:27
It's been a great ride though, obviously.
9:28
Does performance have anything to do with it?
9:33
No, I mean, I don't really. It doesn't.
9:36
I mean, we've had, you know, some disappointments this year
9:39
for sure. But, I mean, it's not enough to,
9:42
it's not enough to make you stop doing what you want to do.
9:44
So, yeah, totally not related to performance in any way, shape or
9:50
form. Jeff Dustin, Jordan Bentley.
9:55
Before you had all your successes 13 years ago, you were
9:58
asked about what you want your retirement story to say about
10:01
you. You said that I was a good
10:02
competitor, I was a good driver and I didn't leave anything on
10:05
the table. At the end of the day, as long
10:06
as I'm happy with what I've done, that's the biggest thing.
10:09
But just have the respect of your peers and competitors is
10:12
important. So now that you're are where you
10:14
are today, is that how you feel? Yeah, yeah, I 100% I've, I would
10:21
say I've achieved more than I ever thought I would.
10:25
You know, that being said, there's a lot of lot of
10:27
heartbreakers. There's a lot of, you know,
10:29
things you go back and think about like, man, if that would
10:31
have turned out different. But you know, a championship 3
10:35
runner UPS in the, in this format.
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I mean, that's, I feel like really good.
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I'm proud of what I've done. I feel like I gave it everything
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I had and I feel like I was really, really good at what I
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did. So yeah, I'm happy with that.
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I, I'm content, I feel good. I, I'm happy.
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I'm, I feel good about this. Dustin Long, NBC Sports Martin,
11:06
when did you finally come up with this decision?
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Has been recently or you've been sitting on this for a while?
11:16
I mean, I've known for a few weeks.
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Obviously we've known for a few weeks.
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I was leaning that way most of the season.
11:24
I was leaning that direction, but I wasn't totally sure.
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So it just took a while to think about it all.
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And it's a big decision. It's a lot.
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It affects not just me, it affects a lot of people.
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And you know, again, that's the toughest part.
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You don't want to let people down.
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You know, I've been, you know, 21 years I've done this.
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I've never missed a race. I've never missed a practice.
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I've never been late for anything.
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I've I've never missed an appearance.
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I mean, you, you live your life by a schedule that somebody
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makes for you. And it's just time for me to
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make my own schedule. It's really as simple as that's
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really what it boils down for, you know, to me is, is I want to
12:01
go do the things I want to do and I don't want anyone to tell
12:03
me when I can and when I can't do those things.
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And I still love racing. I'm still going to race some.
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I don't know what, when, how, why.
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I don't know any of that yet. I'm going to figure that out.
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But I feel very fortunate to be in this position, be able to
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make this decision on my own terms.
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It's something that was always something that I wanted to be
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able to do, you know, because there was times in my career
12:24
where I didn't know if I was going to have a job next year or
12:27
in, you know, six months or whatever.
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So it's just a good, a good feeling to be able to make your
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own, make your own way, do the things you want to do.
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And, you know, that's kind of what led me to it led me to
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this. What was it like to tell Joe or
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to officially tell the organization?
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Because obviously, you know, we know you've gone back and forth
12:47
the last couple years and thought about this.
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But when you finally tell somebody, tell the organization,
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there's no going back from that. So you talk about being nervous
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in here today, You know what? What was that like informing the
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team and make getting to that, making that decision that day?
13:04
Yeah, I mean, it wasn't. Coach and I have talked about it
13:07
a lot recently. And so it wasn't that hard.
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He's been amazing through all this, you know, just being on my
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side and, you know, want me to do what I want to do.
13:17
It is tough. It's tough to let people feel
13:19
like you're letting people down. But you know, at the same time,
13:22
I feel like I've got great relationship with with everyone
13:25
on our team, all of our guys on the 19 especially.
13:28
And but coach has been awesome, you know, helped me work through
13:32
it and his he would always make me a list of pros and cons and
13:36
his his list of pros was always longer than mine.
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I think the last time I had 9 pluses and two minuses.
13:43
Yeah, but no, honestly, it was, it really wasn't that hard
13:46
because I'm very comfortable with with him and and the guys.
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OK, we'll go Jordan, Lee and then Kelly and then Nate.
13:52
Jordan Bianchi, The Athletic. You've talked over the years as
13:55
you've kind of gone over this decision about wanting to be
13:57
competitive and having fun. Obviously you're still
14:00
competitive. The numbers bear that out.
14:02
Are you not having as much fun as you once did?
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Sometimes, yeah, sometimes I don't.
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You know, it's, it's hard to, it's hard to explain.
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I have my reasons. I have, you know, like I said,
14:16
I, I feel really good about this and this is what I want to do.
14:19
So yeah. And then, Joe, the natural
14:23
question is, is you're going to need a driver for that team next
14:25
year. What are you looking for in a
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driver? Yeah, we're going to.
14:28
We're still working on all that. And so we just want to focus
14:32
right now on Martin and all that stuff will take place later on.
14:37
So we're thrilled to kind of be here and support him.
14:41
All of our guys are here. Martin means a lot to us.
14:45
So he used to sit in those competition meetings and he was
14:49
sitting there and a couple of our drivers would be and, and I
14:55
would look over at Martin. He would go.
14:58
Martin didn't say a lot, but he when he said it, it meant a lot
15:02
to us. Gunnelly.
15:05
He Spencer SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and Catch fence.com.
15:09
I'm curious, you know, you grew up as a second generation racer
15:12
and when you followed your father's footsteps, could you
15:15
have thought back then that, you know, you would be a Cup
15:19
champion one day, that you would have all these wins you would
15:22
win at, you know, several home tracks of yours?
15:25
I mean, just all the things that your dad maybe didn't get to do
15:28
that you did. Yeah, no, for sure.
15:31
I, I never thought of that, you know, when I was, you know,
15:35
running the Up in the North series and in my dad's cars, I
15:39
was honestly moving to North Carolina and racing cars for a
15:43
living was never on my radar. It just, it wasn't, it was on my
15:46
dad's radar, I guess, because he was talking to people and
15:49
whatnot. But I was just working on cars,
15:51
building race cars and, and trying to go fast and win races
15:54
and that all kind of played out. So thinking back to all those
15:57
memories, just it's, it's amazing to, you know, talking to
16:02
Johnny, talking about, you know, the memories we've shared
16:04
together and the, and the, you know, great wins we've had over
16:07
the years. I never dreamed any of this.
16:10
Just very, very, very lucky. I'm going to go to Kelly, Nate
16:16
and then Zach. Kelly Crandall, racer.com
16:19
Martin, what or why were you the most nervous coming into coming
16:23
in here today? I don't know.
16:25
I mean, I just, I'm never usually nervous when I come in
16:27
here and this is kind of a big deal.
16:29
So I guess that's why I didn't really know what I was going to
16:32
say or what I was going to get asked.
16:36
I'm sure you know, a lot of people are going to have their
16:38
opinions and that's, that's part of it.
16:39
But yeah, it's, I don't know, it's a big deal, I guess.
16:44
Do you anticipate the the second-half of this year now
16:47
that this is out there, you know what you're doing, it's done and
16:50
over with. Do you anticipate the
16:52
second-half of this season feeling any different?
16:54
Are you looking at the second-half any different going
16:57
forward now? I mean, I'm not going to
17:00
approach it any differently. I, I don't expect my team to
17:03
either. I, I don't think they will.
17:05
I think it's business as usual as far as, you know, when we're
17:07
at the track. But I don't know.
17:10
Yeah, I, I guess it'll feel different like, you know,
17:12
knowing that I'll be going to tracks for the last time or
17:15
whatever, you know, in a cup car now.
17:17
So I'm not sure what, what it's going to be like, but I'm going
17:20
to try to enjoy it. We're going to go to Nate, Zach
17:23
and then Caleb, Nate, Ryan, NBC, NBC Sports.
17:27
Martin, you said that you just want to slow down and do
17:30
something else. And you said you want want it to
17:33
be so that people aren't telling you the things you that you
17:36
can't do the things you want to do.
17:37
So what's the something else? Like what?
17:41
What? What are the other things that
17:42
you want to do? Have you thought about that?
17:46
Yeah. I mean, it's it's as simple as
17:48
just not having a crazy schedule where, you know, 40 weekends am
17:51
at a race track. So that's part of it, you know,
17:55
I don't know, I I don't know exactly what I'm going to be
17:57
doing yet, aside from the fun stuff I like to do away from the
18:00
racetrack. But what what's that like just
18:03
fishing or yeah, hunting, fishing, hanging out with
18:05
friends. Like I've everyone in my family
18:08
that's ever gotten married. I miss their wedding, you know
18:10
what I mean? Like it's you don't have a life.
18:12
You're you're married to racing. It's all you do Monday till
18:17
Sunday. That's all you do.
18:18
So it's just going to be interesting to lead kind of a
18:21
normal life for a little while and see what that's like.
18:24
It's been, you know, I haven't, I've never done that.
18:27
Are you worried at all about, you know, you hear when drivers
18:30
retire, they miss the competitive juices, the passion.
18:33
He's got Xfinity cars. OK, coach on board.
18:37
I want to go race. Let's go.
18:40
So you'll still. We're working on that.
18:43
Yeah, One for you, Joe. You're known as a persuasive
18:48
individual, I think, and you've been down this road, I think,
18:50
with Martin the last couple of years.
18:52
Martin said that he felt like this was the right year.
18:54
Did you feel that? Did you feel like you weren't be
18:55
able to talk him out of it this time?
18:56
Well, it was always up to Martin and you know, we, we talked
19:00
other years, Martin I think thought about things and I think
19:05
it was just different this year. And I could kind of tell when I
19:09
called him to get the the final result, he was totally relaxed.
19:16
And so I could read that and him.
19:18
And so, yeah, we're just, we're excited about going forward.
19:22
I think now he's going to have a lot of opportunities and some of
19:26
them with us. And so I think, I think as much
19:29
as anything, he'll be setting his own schedule and kind of
19:33
doing whatever he wants to do. It's extra neolonascar.com
19:38
Martin, you were in contention to win at Sonoma last week.
19:41
Knowing that you've known this for a few weeks now, obviously
19:43
there's been no loss in that competitive edge.
19:45
How do you go forward from here? Kind of balancing remaining on
19:50
top of your game, but also either cherishing or relishing
19:53
the moments to come here knowing that, like you said that there
19:56
are these are going to be some of your last visits to race
19:59
there in a Cup car. Yeah, I mean, I'm just going to
20:02
do, do my job. And do you know what I've, what
20:05
I've always done. I don't, I don't, you know,
20:06
again, I don't think anything changes here.
20:08
I'm, you know, I'm, I'm here to win this weekend and I'm going
20:10
to do, you know, the best job I can do.
20:12
So yeah, I don't know. I, I don't, I don't really
20:17
overthink all these things. I just, you know, make a
20:20
decision, do my thing, go out and race and try to enjoy it
20:23
and, and do a good job for the team.
20:24
So, yeah, we've got a great team, great cars and, and we can
20:28
win some races. That's the goal.
20:32
Cable vesselspeedwaydigest.com Martin When the checker flag
20:35
flies in Phoenix, what do you feel like after this 19 year
20:38
career? What do you feel like you'll
20:40
miss the most? Probably just the people, you
20:43
know, just hanging out with the guys and, you know, going to
20:45
dinner, talking about the race car and or talking about the
20:48
racing, the way home from the, you know, on the way home in the
20:51
plane or something like that. It's always fun.
20:53
Do we have any final questions for look back up to Bob and then
20:58
to Phillip? Bob Parker's Fox Sports.
21:01
I have two. Martin, is this an emotional day
21:03
for you or is it just another? I'm not really that emotional,
21:07
but I'm so I'm not sure. It hasn't really sunk in yet.
21:10
Honestly. I'm just, I don't really know,
21:14
looking forward to getting in the car.
21:18
And since you've left the door open to racing again, the one
21:23
thing maybe you haven't done and everything is when Daytona 500.
21:27
Do you envision yourself trying to make another attempt at that?
21:31
Maybe. I don't know.
21:35
I'd be open to it, yeah. Martin Phillip Jones from the
21:41
Des Moines Register For readers who may not be as familiar with
21:44
racing as as we all are, you know, can you talk a little
21:47
about how hard it is to maintain focus for 40 weeks a year and if
21:51
that wears on you and if you know and if you're excited to
21:54
just take a step back? I mean, it can I, I think it
21:59
just depends on, you know, who you are, your personality, your
22:01
team, whatever how things are going.
22:03
Certainly, you know, years where you have a good team and fast
22:06
race cars are always easier to to navigate than a, a tough
22:10
season. You know, where your place,
22:13
where your team's not up, you know, where it needs to be or
22:15
your cars aren't where they need to be, which, you know, I think
22:18
you're in the sport long enough. We all get in those situations.
22:21
Those are really, really difficult to kind of keep, you
22:24
know, to to keep pushing forward and know that this, you know,
22:27
where's that light at the end of the tunnel?
22:29
And I've certainly had, you know, my share of those seasons.
22:31
But yeah, I mean, it's it's a tough sport.
22:36
It's a long season. It's a grind.
22:37
And and you got to be fully committed.
22:39
I think everybody here knows that.
22:41
So I've put a lot of more than half my life into this and I've
22:47
gotten a lot out of it. So I'm I'm proud of that.
22:51
We have a follow up here with Zach and then Dustin.
22:56
You're in contention for your second straight regular season
22:58
championship. There's it wouldn't be a
23:01
surprise to most of us in here if you went out and won the
23:04
title on your way out here. Does that with as well as the as
23:10
strong as the performance of this team is, did that make the
23:13
decision any harder to decide that this is going to be
23:17
regardless of what happens here from now till November?
23:21
No, I think it'd be great to go out on top.
23:26
We'll wrap up with Dustin. Dustin Long, NBC Sports.
23:31
What what was so strong that kept you back the previous
23:35
seasons? That was not as strong of a
23:39
feeling this time because you I didn't get the sense of maybe
23:42
I'm wrong, but that you've come close to being to have done this
23:47
years earlier and there was something that brought you back,
23:50
but it wasn't as strong this time.
23:52
What what was that? And what was not that pulling
23:55
you with back this. Yeah, I don't know.
23:57
I just, I, I didn't feel the same.
23:59
I, I felt like I had more to accomplish and I would
24:02
accomplish more. And I really haven't over
24:09
thought it. Honestly, this just felt like
24:12
the right thing to do for now. We'll see.
24:15
Did you consult any other former drivers or I, I mean, I have in
24:19
the past, yeah. Over the past couple years, just
24:22
getting, you know, people's opinions on or, or really their
24:26
mindset on what was their, you know, what, what did it for
24:29
them, which way, you know, what's what steered them each
24:32
direction. And I took all that into account
24:35
when I thought about it. But yeah, just thought about it
24:40
a lot and too much probably. But yeah, finally came, you
24:45
know, finally just, it just feels right right now.
24:47
It just feels like I, I, I'm doing what I, I feel like it's
24:51
the right thing for me. Simple as that.
24:54
Let's talk about Martin Truex. Two time NASCAR Xfinity
25:01
champion, Cup Series champion, 13 Xfinity wins, 34 Cup wins,
25:14
and did you know he won one truck race at Bristol on dirt?
25:21
So that means he is definitely 110% a badass Hall of Famer.
25:29
Martin Trucks will automatically go in the Hall of Fame.
25:33
He checked every box. He was a champion and
25:37
everything. Except he didn't even hardly run
25:41
the Truck Series. But when he did, he won at
25:45
Bristol on dirt. Why is he retiring?
25:49
This will be, you know, my take on why he's retiring.
25:53
First of all, he's 43 years old right now, which is not old.
25:56
He's still a child. But June 29th here in just a
26:04
little bit, he's going to turn 44.
26:08
When you look at the the new retirement age, first of all,
26:11
Kevin Harvick did something very rare.
26:14
Harvick went to what, 48? That's, that's pretty old
26:18
nowadays when you, when you look it up, everybody.
26:23
Bobby Labonte, Jeff Burton, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, everybody
26:31
retiring at 42 years old. That seemed to be the new
26:35
phenomenon. Clint Boyer in his early 40s,
26:39
Ryan Newman. So you get it, Everybody it,
26:43
it's, it was a new retirement age.
26:45
It seemed like the Harry Gantt days and the Bobby Allison days
26:49
and the Rusty Wallace days, all the old legends they were all
26:54
went to 50. But in this new era, there's
26:57
this theory that everybody starts when they're eight years
27:00
old. See, back in the day, nobody
27:03
started at 8 years old like Jeff Gordon did.
27:05
Nobody, everybody started at 1618 years old.
27:11
I talked to Clint Boyer about this and and Boyer was the one
27:14
that said, Hey arm, he said, I'd love to be on Kenny
27:17
conversation, but man, every time I go on those deals, I get
27:20
in trouble. I said, I'll keep you out of
27:22
trouble. But Clint Boyer was the one that
27:25
said to me, man, he said, he said, I just started racing so
27:29
early. So really, a lot of this
27:32
retiring at at 40 and 42 has to do with these drivers starting
27:36
at such an early age. And that became the new
27:39
phenomenon. Remember Tiger Woods golfing at
27:42
five years old? Jeff Gordon racing full time at
27:45
12 years old. But when I look at Martin
27:50
Trucks, here's probably the reason he's retiring.
27:53
He's going to the race tracks somewhere sometime.
27:57
He had to look at something. And and like me, you look at the
28:01
chart and I did it at Phoenix. I went holy crap, I'm the only
28:05
one left out of my group and I'm sure Martin Truex is the only
28:10
one left out of his group. And you know, with with Harvard
28:15
retired, you know, Truex is, is up there now.
28:19
He's probably the oldest one out of his group.
28:22
He's done it all. And I and I would say here's the
28:26
other deal. It it it just starts wearing
28:30
thin on you. So he's leading the race at
28:34
Richmond, right We now listen, the key is to the key is to
28:37
retire when you're running good, all right?
28:40
It the key is not to retire when everything goes bad.
28:44
So he's leading Richmond this year and they get they get beat
28:47
out of the pits and Denny Hamlin wins the race.
28:51
Remember that? So that pissed him off.
28:53
All right, last week. He's running second at at Sears
28:57
Point out there in Fontana, CA running second.
29:00
They run him out of gas and I'm sure there was more.
29:04
And about this time, he's saying, you know what?
29:08
And I just learned this phrase. Kenny Schrader taught it to me.
29:11
There's Kim. I'm sure, I'm, I'm sure that
29:16
Martin Truex said, I'm over this.
29:20
That's the new one. Can can you say it with me?
29:23
I'm over it. So at what point in your life
29:27
are you over it? Meaning you had enough of it.
29:30
In other words, you've done something and now it's no longer
29:32
exciting and it's called I'm over it.
29:35
Say it with me, I'm over that. I'm over it.
29:40
I've, I've gone to Fairbury enough.
29:43
It's a four hour drive up, 4 hour drive back.
29:46
I'm going to Quincy every Sunday, 2 1/2 hour up, two and a
29:50
half hour back. I'm getting at home at 2:00 in
29:52
the morning. I'm over that.
29:55
See, See how that works? So I'm sure Martin Trex is over
29:59
it. He's just over it all.
30:01
He's done it all. I done told you he's a two time
30:04
Xfinity champion. Thirteen wins, 34 cup wins,
30:08
NASCAR champ 1 to one to what 2022 won the a truck dirt race.
30:14
He's a real quiet guy. But listen everybody, he's
30:18
already done it all. He's in the Hall of Fame.
30:19
He just ain't there yet. All right, so let's go ahead and
30:22
celebrate Martin Truex. Congratulations, Martin.
30:27
You deserve this. And let's let's give him hey,
30:30
like they did me in 2015 at at Iowa.
30:33
Let's give him a standing ovation.
30:35
Crab on feet for Martin Truex, everybody.
30:39
And I just told you why I think he's retired.
30:42
He's over it.