LOUDON, NH – Martin Truex Jr. stood with his back to a table where Kevin Harvick had been sitting hours earlier gave him a colonial musket by New Hampshire Motor Speedway in honor of the driver’s last race at the track.
Harvick announced his retirement ahead of the Daytona 500 and was celebrated with gifts and honors during his final NASCAR season.
The 43-year-old Truex hasn’t made a decision — publicly, at least — on whether he will return to Joe Gibbs Racing for another season or quit his helmet and end a career that included the 2017 NASCAR championship.
Truex retired earlier but was then persuaded to return for another year in the #19 Toyota. Truex is having fun on the track again and has racked up two wins after missing the playoffs last season.
When asked about retirement on Saturday, Truex answered the “next question” but conceded that an announcement would need to be made soon, maybe even this week.
Is this his timeline or JGR’s? JGR would have to make key decisions about the driver, sponsorship and possibly a new team to be assembled for 2024 should Truex retire.
“Probably more her schedule than mine,” Truex said.
Truex announced last June that he would be returning for a 19th season, so talks with team owner Joe Gibbs over a possible replacement never got very far. Without a high-profile free agent at the end of this season, the team would likely look to Xfinity Series drivers John Hunter Nemechek or Sammy Smith to complete the four-car group. The team promoted Ty Gibbs that season to take Kyle Busch’s place after Busch left to drive for Richard Childress.
Truex knew the clock was ticking.
“I think about it a lot during the week but not at the track,” Truex said. “That’s why I don’t really talk about it much. I haven’t made a decision yet, so there’s no reason to talk about it.”
He opened the season by winning the Busch Light Clash and has since won at Dover and Sonoma. Truex all but won last season, which was its downfall. He was in the top 10 overall throughout the regular season, but missed out on a playoff spot because of a record-breaking 19 different winners in NASCAR last season.
Truex is poised to end this season fighting for the championship—and maybe emerge victorious.
RAIN RAIN GO AWAY
With heavy rain forecast, New Hampshire could be the third straight race to be cut short due to weather.
William Byron won in Atlanta last week in a race that lasted just 75 laps. Shane van Gisbergen won his NASCAR Cup Series debut in Chicago when the race was canceled due to dwindling sunshine.
“I think when we start a race in the rain we need a time limit or something,” said Kevin Harvick, 2014 NASCAR champion. “The rain laps are a lot slower and it just takes all day.”
Aric Almirola won one in 2021 The New Hampshire race was delayed by rain and shortened by eight laps due to darkness. The idea is always to finish the race on Sunday, even if it’s a few kilometers less than promised.
“I think you saw maybe a little bit of the rain factor at the Atlanta race last week where the guys really pushed because they knew the rain was coming so they wanted to be up front so the aggression was high,” two said the -time cup winner Kyle Busch. “But other than that, race distance, race length, I think if you find a happy spot with a TV window, you just stick with it.”
MELON smash, beer bash
Ross Chastain celebrates each win with a watermelon smash in homage to his family’s Florida watermelon farm. He can also mash a few beers now Busch Light will act as its main sponsor from next season.
Chastain went to beer school and learned that drinking a chilled beer out of a pint glass was much tastier than a can.
Anheuser-Busch and Trackhouse Racing announced a multi-year agreement linking one of NASCAR’s four premier partners with one of the Cup’s most divisive drivers. Chastain developed one aggressive driving style This has always annoyed other motorists.
Might suit a fan drinking beer on race day quite well.
Busch Light has been a sponsor of NASCAR for 44 years and not only invests in racing teams, but is also the namesake of the Busch Pole Award and the Busch Light Clash. The brand has sponsored Kevin Harvick’s #4 car at Stewart-Haas Racing since 2016.
Harvick has, of course, been in many Busch Light commercials and other commercials. Chastain said he wasn’t used to the glamor of the commercials ahead of him.
“It’s going to be things that I’m probably not entirely comfortable with, things that I’ve never experienced before,” he said. “As long as we believe in each other, it will be a great partnership.”
SRX BELL
Ryan Preece of Berlin, Connecticut grew up in New Hampshire with his father and grandfather and later found success on the racetrack by driving modified stock cars. He’s a local fan favorite and hopes to expand his reach to ” Thursday night thunder.”
Preece, who is yet to finish a top 10 for Stewart-Haas Racing this season, made a late addition at next week’s SRX All-Star Series race in Connecticut. Before his NASCAR career took off, Preece was a regular at Stafford Speedway and was thrilled to compete against a team that included Hailie Deegan, Brad Keselowski and Marco Andretti.
“It’s a great opportunity for the hometown fans to see a hometown man compete against them,” Preece said.
BITS AND PIECES
According to Kyle Larson, Kyle Larson is the betting favorite for Sunday’s win FanDuel Sportsbook. … 2021 Daytona 500 champion Michael McDowell led the only practice session with a lap speed of 126.416 mph. Martin Truex Jr. had the best 10-lap average at 125.495 mph. … Kyle Busch will start from the back of the field after a crash in qualifying.
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