 | | Martin Truex Jr. will take his two Busch Series titles and head to the Nextel Cup Seires for '06. Credit: Autostock |
By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM
December 20, 2005
12:28 PM EST (17:28 GMT)
Martin Truex Jr. had every reason in the world to fail in 2005 as he chased his goal of winning a second consecutive championship in the NASCAR Busch Series. Truex fell into a deep hole in the standings in the first third of the season, and despite being burdened by his own expectations, those of series observers and his own Chance 2 Motorsports team, he prevailed. Truex's resolve and the support of his crew chief, Kevin Manion, his team, his family and team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., who not coincidentally was the last man to win consecutive Busch titles, paid huge dividends by season's end. While in Central Florida for the Busch Series awards ceremony at the Portofino Bay Hotel in Orlando, Truex sat down with NASCAR.COM senior writer Dave Rodman to talk about his season, his future in Nextel Cup, working for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the "Six Amigos."  |  | | Martin Truex Jr. and Dale Earnhardt Jr. both won consecutive Busch Series titles in their career. Credit: Autostock |
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Q: It's amazing that it's already been six years ago that your buddy, team owner and mentor, Dale Earnhardt Jr., won consecutive Busch Series titles. So does that make your accomplishment more significant, and more special? Martin Truex Jr.: Well, it's real special to me. Obviously, it's been a lot of hard work and it's been a long two years, but I'm just really proud to be a part of the team that I'm a part of, Chance 2. I owe it all to them, for these two championships. Like you say, you look back on it and it's a heck of an accomplishment and obviously one you never know if you're going to have a chance to do. I just feel fortunate about the opportunities that I've been able to have and real fortunate that we were able to accomplish this. It's really something that I'm proud of and something that I'll have in my memory for a long time, that I'll take with me wherever I go. Q: Every season's different, but for you, having two consecutive championship seasons, which one was more enjoyable: 2004 or 2005? Truex: Last year was more enjoyable because this one was a lot harder, obviously -- with it coming right down to the end the way it did. It just seemed like somebody wanted to make sure it was close -- I don't know who it was. But every time it seemed like we would get rolling, something would happen. We had an up-and-down season to say the least. At the beginning of the year we struggled and found ourselves 400 points out of the lead at one time, like in eighth or ninth in the points. I just went back to work and said 'screw the points -- we're going to go out and try to win races,' and by the end of the summer, we had the lead. Q: Is there a little bit more satisfaction in winning this one, considering how hard you had to race Clint Bowyer and his Childress Racing team? Truex: I think the satisfaction didn't come from just beating Clint -- it came from beating everybody. I mean, for all the things we had to go through, from struggling at the beginning of the year through all the bad luck we had and all the DNFs. We had four DNFs, I think, and probably four times that we were wrecked and just riding around. That's a lot of points to give up, so it was weird. We either raced really good and had really good finishes or we were really bad -- there was no in-between. We didn't have any mediocre days. We were either great or we were terrible. It was just up and down, so to go through all that and to still come out on top was pretty amazing, I think. Q: I think it's kind of unprecedented that you're getting to carry this Busch title fight into 2005, because six guys -- I'm calling you the "Six Amigos" -- are going from the Busch Series to race for Nextel Cup Rookie of the Year. How do you handicap that and who's the favorite? Truex: I don't know. You guys could probably figure that out better than I could. Hopefully I am, but we've all got great teams, we're all getting the greatest opportunity of our lives and I know we're all going to do our best to make the best of our opportunities. But it's going to be a lot of fun to race with these guys because we've raced before and we kind of know each other. We've kind of all become friends to a certain extent. I'm sure we'll all be hanging out tonight. But you know, they're a great bunch of guys -- all of the guys that are moving up together -- and I'm looking forward to racing with them for a long time to come. It's going to be pretty cool. Q: If nothing else, winning championships in two consecutive years has given you a good look at "big picture racing," so when you look at it that way, is the rookie of the year award next year that big of a goal or are you looking at it more in terms of winning races and building a potential championship team in Nextel Cup? Truex: That's what our main goal is -- to win races and become a contender and just try to get better each week. Hopefully by the end of the year we'll be somebody that's competitive every week and has a shot to win every week. That's where we want to be, and as racers, that's all you want to do, is to win. If you were good with running 10th, you don't belong there. But the race for rookie of the year, there's a lot there, too. There's a lot of pride there. It's no different than if we stayed in the Busch Series. Would I want to beat all these guys again? Of course I would. So just because we're moving up and maybe we're not going to be racing for the championship doesn't mean we don't want to beat each other. I might take a little special pride in beating all these guys for rookie of the year. Q: For two years now you've made spot starts in Nextel Cup, so how much of a plus do you feel like that will be as you look at a full schedule in 2006? Truex: It's gonna be big because I learned a lot in the seven or eight starts I made this year in Nextel Cup, because the races are so much different and the way those guys race is a little bit different. Learning to run 500 miles is different, in the way that you do it. I raced at Texas and I just rode around all day. After the last pit stop I went as hard as I could and I picked up five spots. That's what those guys do all the time, and you can see it. As the race goes on, the harder they run. At the beginning of the race, the first couple times I ran, I found myself just passing cars, you know, the first 10 or 20 laps. I'm like, 'my car doesn't really feel that good.' And then it's like, 'These guys are just riding around.' So it's different. I'm not saying that they ride around slow, but they take care of their stuff. They don't take any chances, they don't get near each other and they let each other go if one's faster or one's slower. If you get a guy in the Busch Series that you don't race with every week to let you go when you catch him, I mean, he must really like you, because that doesn't happen very often. It's hard racing (in Nextel Cup). Things are different, and I earned a little bit of respect from most of them. That was one of the biggest things I wanted to do. As a driver coming into a new series or something like that, I felt like it was very important to earn that respect quickly, and that's something I've always held high on my priorities list and hopefully I've done that this year. Q: Getting back to your team in the Busch Series and Bono, your crew chief. You've got something special there, so how would you describe your relationship with him? Truex: It's like I've known him my whole life. We're just good friends, and he understands me and I understand him. We can get mad and yell at each other one minute and five minutes later, we're fine. |  | | Martin Truex Jr. made his final victory lap in the No. 8 car. He moves to the No. 1 Chevy for '06. Credit: Autostock |
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That's the kind of relationship you need, because it's so important to have that communication and that respect for each other and that confidence in each other. If he tells me something, I'll believe in him 100 percent, and he feels the same about me. You need that, because it's so competitive, and you can't be second-guessing each other or lying or any of that. You need to be straight up and you need to be on the same page. Q: You both have the same background, coming from the Northeast and the Busch North Series, so did you know each other at all, or did your dad know him from racing in that series? Truex: I didn't know him at all. I think before I even started racing in the Busch North he was already down working at DEI or wherever he was then. But I didn't know him and I don't know if my dad did, either. I'm not sure. Q: So did having the same experiences help you at all, or did you hit it off on an even better level than that? Truex: I don't know. Maybe it helped us in having respect for each other right off the bat. Maybe it helped him respect me right off the bat. Obviously I respected him because I remember Dale Jr. telling me who my crew chief was going to be, when we first put this deal together, and he said 'he's really cool -- man, you're going to like him because he's really laid-back.' And that's just the way that he was. Obviously that was a good choice for Bono to be crew chief, so maybe I was the one that had to get his respect, because he was there and he was the guy in charge. I had to go in there and show him that I wanted to do it and that I was able to do it. I don't think it was the other way around. I think I respected him from the get-go, and he showed me the same thing. Whenever we went testing the first time, it was like I had just raced with him forever -- he was like the crew chief I had when I raced my Modified. He was just a friend and he was honest. He didn't get worried about things. He just let you go out there and do your thing. He said, 'Aaah, don't worry about it -- you'll be fine.' The first time I went out there, I don't even know this guy and he's saying, 'Aaah, let's go, just get in and let's go.' It was just a lot of fun. Q: Dale Jr. is no less busy now than he was two years ago when you guys started together, but has that relationship continued to thrive? Truex: Yeah, we're still really good friends. He's been a great friend to me since I moved. He's really taken care of me. He's the kind of guy that, if you show him respect and you treat him like you should, he'll give you the shirt off his back -- and he continues to be that way to this day. He's been a great friend and somebody that I can look up to for advice -- and there are a lot of things in this sport that are different than most people think, and you probably don't know about before you get there. He warns me about things like that and overall makes it easier for me. Q: What was the one biggest eye-opener to you, in coming to this ultimate level of the sport? Truex: There's nothing in particular, but just a lot of things were different than I expected them to be. Sometimes people are different than you expect them to be. The way some people treat you is different than you think that it would have been before you got here. But overall it's just been an awesome two-and-a-half years with the whole team. I've kind of surprised myself, I think, looking back at it all and how it went -- and I'm just really proud of what I've been able to accomplish. I know why I've been able to do it, and that's because of all the guys that are behind me. Q: Who in the family is enjoying these championships the most? Truex: It's got to be my dad, I'm sure. It's got to be. Q: He's not thinking of taking early retirement to come out and travel the Nextel Cup circuit, is he? Truex: No. He can take a couple of weekends off whenever he wants -- so he's good. | 
