Martin Truex Jr.’s retirement could last exactly zero runs.
Former NASCAR champion will attempt to compete in Feb. 16 Daytona 500 in a Toyota emblazoned with the logo and colors of Truex’s longtime sponsor, Bass Pro Shops.
It would be with a team making its first Start of the series of cuts (Tricon Garage), with technical support from Truex’s newest team (Joe Gibbs Racing), as well as a pit run by its 2017 championship-winning crew chief (Cole Pearn).
EARNHARDT! Dale jR. enters the Daytona 500 (as owner) and guess who buys the whiskey!
Tricon will come to Daytona as a non-sanctioned team and therefore must make the 40-car field through pole qualifying or its 150-mile qualifying race on February 13. Tricon, co-owned by former NASCAR driver David Gilliland, will field five Toyotas in the NASCAR Truck Series. .
Truex, 44, announced his retirement driving full-time last year and made the 2024 season his 19th and final full Cup Series season. He had suggested he would like to compete in a few races in 2025, including the Daytona 500 if the opportunity presented itself.
Martin Truex Jr. and Cole Pearn have won 24 races in 179 starts together.
That places Cole 24th all-time in wins, but he was only a team leader for five seasons.
He won the 2017 championship and also finished 2nd, 2nd, 4th and 11th in points.
Amazing. pic.twitter.com/DgeyVYkQb1
– Seth Sharp (@SethSharp35) December 9, 2019
Martin Truex has a career bagel at Daytona
Along with that 2017 Cup championship, Truex has 34 career Cup victories, but is 0 for 20 in the Daytona 500 and winless in 39 career Cup races at the World Center of Racing, with just six top-10 finishes.
But oh, how close he is. Truex was alongside Denny Hamlin to the finish line of the 2016 Daytona 500, but was lost in the blink of an eye – literally. Hamlin’s winning margin was 0.010, or one hundredth of a second.
Two seasons later, in the summer Coke Zero 400, Truex finished second to Erik Jones by a tenth of a second.
Pearn and Truex won the 2017 Cup championship with Denver-based Furniture Row Racing, which closed its doors the following year. Pearn joined Truex as part of a package at Joe Gibbs Racing in 2019, but left the pit stall after that season and did not return, instead serving as a consultant for the Gibbs team.
This article originally appeared in the Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR: Martin Truex Jr. retired 2 months ago and returns to the Daytona 500
