Conversation: Martin Truex Jr.

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Martin Truex Jr. has one of the best rides in the NASCAR Busch Series. And that was the idea behind Chance 2 Motorsports.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Teresa Earnhardt created Chance 2 to give talented young drivers a chance at the big time. Truex Jr. has responded well, winning his first career race two weekends ago at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Truex Jr. has become a fan favorite, too, thanks in no small part to his popular car owner. But he has handled the pressure well, and he's second in the Busch Series points standings.

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Truex recently sat down with NASCAR.COM's Lee Montgomery to talk about his relationship with Earnhardt Jr., about his title hopes in 2004, about growing up in racing and about the family business. Truex is a quieter version of Earnhardt Jr., but he still has plenty to say.

Q: First of all, do you miss the family business very much? What was the worst part about working in the clam industry?

Truex Jr.: The worst part? The worst part was getting up at three o'clock in the morning and not getting back home until three o'clock in the morning. That's about the worst part. When you're sitting at home and you're ready to go out and hang out with your friends and do something, they'll call you up and say, "We've got to go work." Those are the two worst parts about it.

Q: Was there ever any temptation to skip out on that stuff?

Truex Jr.: Yeah, I did a bunch of times, actually.

Q: I'm sure dad was real happy about that, wasn't he?

Truex Jr.: Yeah. Nah, I didn't skip that much. But every once in a while, I didn't feel like going, and I'd get somebody else to go. That was one of the good parts about it. If you didn't feel like going, you could ask somebody else to go for you, and they were more than happy usually because it was good money.

	Truex and his crew whoop it up in Victory Lane. Credit: Autostock

Q: Tell me how your relationship, your friendship with Junior started. Was it online racing stuff?

Truex Jr.: No, I just met him through this deal when they were putting it together. We started talking about me driving it, and it's gone a long way from there. We hang out what seems like every day now.

Q: So you don't race him online?

Truex Jr.: Oh, yeah, we do now all the time. We probably spend more time doing that than we do at the racetrack.

Q: Who wins most of the time?

Truex Jr.: Well ...

Q: You've got to tell the truth now.

Truex Jr.: Most of the time, I win. Honestly. I mean, almost every time I race him, I beat him by a couple spots. I don't know why.

Q: He'd admit that, too?

Truex Jr.: Yeah, he'll admit it.

Q: I'll go ask him later and see what he says. I guess some people are calling you his "protégé." First off, what does that mean to you? Is that important to you?

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Truex Jr.: Well, if they're comparing me to him, I guess that's a good thing, you know? I just try to do the best job I can every week. I'm sure that's the same way he looked at it when he started. I've got a real passion for it. There's nothing more that I want in life than to win races and championships. I think we both do the same thing: We put racing ahead of everything and put all our heart into it. Maybe that's why (I get compared to him), I don't know. Aside from that, I'm not sure why, but that's a pretty cool title, I guess.

Q: Your personalities -- maybe I don't know both of you that well -- but you seem to be a little quieter, at least in the media and in public. Is that an accurate statement? Or are you just a closet party animal?

Truex Jr.: (Laughing) Well, I get just as crazy as the next guy. I kind of like to keep it to myself. I'm not too outspoken. Sometimes I just think I get nervous about things. Most of the time I just don't have much to say. I just keep it to myself.

Q: You grew up around racing with your dad. Did he ever try to talk you out of becoming a racecar driver? Did he encourage it?

Truex Jr.: He left it all completely up to me. It actually took me a year of begging to get my go-kart so I can start racing. After that, he saw how much I wanted to do it, how much effort I put into it. From there on out, he was 100 percent behind me.

Q: What finally convinced him to get the go-kart? Did you just wear him down?

Truex Jr.: Yeah, I just wore him out with it. Every day. We actually went to the go-kart track a few times, and it would drive me crazy watching those kids out there racing, and I had to stand there and watch. I guess he saw that, and we finally got a go-kart. I won the first race I was ever in.

Q: Did you go to the track with him a lot? Any good stories of hanging around in the pits as a little kid?

	Truex Jr. talks with his Chance 2 team co-owner, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Credit: Autostock

Truex Jr.: I went as much as I could, but once I started racing, I didn't get to go very often. That was when he started getting into it big with the Busch North car and stuff. I missed a lot of that. I actually worked in the shop on weekends and during the week and everything like that. Good story? I don't know.

Q: A good one you can tell a family audience.

Truex Jr.: (Laughing) Geez. Let me think. I'm not good at remembering stories, I swear.

Q: We can skip that. Come back to me later. The victory at Bristol last week, I'm guessing that was one of the highlights of your career. Did that do anything to your confidence level or with the team?

Truex Jr.: Yeah, I guess you'd be lying to yourself if you said it didn't. But I think before that even, our confidence was high, the way we've been running every week. A couple times, I was knocking on the door of wins. We kind of knew that our turn was coming, it was just a matter of time (if) we kept running the way we were.

But definitely it was a confidence booster. We unloaded (at Texas) and said, "We can win this race." There's no question that we can win now. I think it helps everybody's confidence.

Q: I guess it may be a little too early for this, I don't know, but the championship is probably on your minds. Or is that just too far out there? Is that an attainable goal?

Truex Jr.: I think it is an attainable goal. What are we, five races in right now? And we're sitting right there, and we've had two bad races. We ran good at both of them but had bad finishes. We've ran good everywhere we've been since some time last year, since last year period, really, since we got together. I'm not worried.

It seems like we have good racecars everywhere we go, and that's the main thing. We're all working real good together. We're having a blast; that's the best part. We're having fun with it and running good. It's a winning situation for everybody.

Q: That's what Junior wants, for you guys to have fun and to run up front. Does he create that kind of atmosphere around the team to help y'all stay loose?

Truex Jr.: The way he put this team together is a big part of that. He took a lot of guys who were at lower positions who put their heart and soul into what they did. This is all ever wanted to do. They do their job just as good as anybody out there. They feel like they're more into it, they're more excited about being here. This is just what they wanted to do. They're 100 percent pure racers.

They're like your Saturday night guys who will go and do it for free every week. That's just the way they are. That's what makes us such a good team.

Q: That's cool. So if you're on a short track and you're about to go a lap down, do you spin out to cause a caution?

Truex Jr.: No. I don't think anybody's good enough to spin their car out with hitting anything.