DOVER, Del. — Martin Truex Jr. was looking for his first win in 54 NASCAR Cup Series races. His brother Ryan Truex, 12 years his junior, was looking for his first national series win, period.
The duo left their home track of Dover Motor Speedway with both carrying trophies of Miles the Monster, with Ryan scoring the Saturday win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series before Truex Jr. broke through to triumph in Monday’s rain-delayed Cup event.
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“You know, it’s not a long list of brothers that have swept the weekend in NASCAR racing history,” Truex Jr., the 2017 Cup champion, said. “And to be on that list with some of the guys that have done it is really, really cool for both of us and our whole family.”
On site to celebrate both victories was their father, Martin Truex Sr., himself a former northeast racer who scored a New Hampshire win back in 1994 in what’s now known as the ARCA Menards Series East.
The family hails from Mayetta, New Jersey, some 75 miles northeast of Dover. To score their wins here of all places, well, hit close to home.
“It’s amazing,” Truex Jr. said. “You know, this is one of my favorite tracks. I love coming here. Like I said, a lot of friends and family come to this track, and I feel like we have a lot of fans up in this neck of the woods. So it’s been one of my favorite tracks for a long time since I first came here back in like 2001, I guess it was, so just yeah, excited for sure.”
Truex Jr. broke into the Xfinity Series 22 years ago in 2001 — a debut coincidently made at Dover. Ryan Truex made his Xfinity debut in 2010, three years after Truex Jr. had already scored his first Cup Series victory.
Ryan Truex’s first 187 starts — those across the Craftsman Truck, Xfinity and Cup series — were punctuated by heartbreak, notably at Dover. In June 2012, Truex wheeled the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to the lead for 43 laps. But lapped traffic and a loose race car resulted in a squandered opportunity as then-teammate Joey Logano stormed by for the win with six laps remaining.
His Saturday breakthrough comes in his second stint with JGR in the midst of another part-time season as he tries to earn more races behind the wheel.
“It feels amazing. I feel like a huge 11-year weight lifted off my shoulders,” the younger Truex said. “Now people can finally stop asking me about 2012 here now that I came back and led all the laps I did and won both races and won the race.”
In Year 14 of his NASCAR career, Truex has just three full-time seasons: two in the Craftsman Truck Series and one in Xfinity. He signed on for a six-race schedule in JGR’s No. 19 Xfinity car this season after competing in that ride five times in 2022.
Big brother Truex Jr. was both emotional and reflective Monday, knowing better than most how hard Truex has worked behind the scenes to bring his racing opportunities to life.
“It’s been a long time coming for him,” Truex Jr. told NASCAR.com Saturday. “He’s been through a lot. Really, really worked hard to get in this seat, and just really proud of his effort over the years. He’s had a mountain to climb at times and just kept digging. Got knocked down, got back up and just always kept after it. I’ve always had faith in his abilities and knew what he could do, and you’ve just gotta get the right opportunities. So I’m just really proud of him and his team, and thanks to JGR for letting him do this. Just a huge day for him and our whole family.”
Team owner Joe Gibbs affirmed Monday that hard work has been noticed and that more may come of it thanks to the Saturday win.
“I thought it was great for the Truex family and to have the dad here and everybody celebrating,” Gibbs said. “Obviously, it’s a first for us. Never had two brothers like that win races on the weekend. But we would love to have Ryan in the car. He does a lot of simulation work for us. He’s a dedicated young guy, and it’s just, as everybody knows, hard to get sponsorship, and so we work our rear off. And I talked to Todd Moore (president, MTJ Group of Companies), he called me right after the race on Saturday. And we committed to work hard this year to try and get Ryan and more races.”
That Truex Jr. followed up Monday with his own win was the cherry on top of the family’s spectacular weekend. His first career win back in 2007 was also scored at Dover, also on a Monday. His career has seen its own fair share of high peaks and low valleys, so a 54-race winless streak was nothing in comparison to other droughts along the way.
“It isn’t that long. I mean, come on, 54 races? I’ve went way longer than that before. Such a long winless streak,” Truex Jr. laughed. “Jesus, I’ve only won 32 of these things now. It’s really, really hard to win these races, you guys, OK?”
But the missed opportunities were adding up — Richmond in April, Las Vegas 2022 among others. He scored the win in the Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum back in February, but that was an exhibition race.
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“Last year, after missing the playoffs, that one is pretty big,” Truex Jr. said, reflecting on last season. “Missed it by three points. We were fourth in points at that point in time, and we missed it. It was a real gut punch. Especially after how many times we felt like we were capable of winning races or should have won races, just had a lot of tough luck. Just proud to be able to do it, and it’s always good to win.”
After considering retirement in 2022, Truex Jr.’s return signaled a competitive fire that hadn’t yet been doused. But the 42-year-old admitted as race wins slipped away, the realization he might not find another victory began to seep in.
“You never know when your last win is going to be or what’s going to happen,” Truex Jr. said. “Certainly, in those 54 races, there’s certainly a bunch of them that we probably should have won or had the best car. I think as tough as that is to swallow when those heartbreaking races happen, it keeps you motivated. It keeps your mind like, OK, yeah, we know we can do it. If the belts don’t fall off the engine, we’re going to win Darlington (last fall). If we didn’t use a set of tires in Stage 1 of Richmond, we’re going to win Richmond.
“You have all these races throughout that period where you’re like, we were good enough to win, we should have won. It’s not like we can’t do that. We just need to put it all together. It’s kind of like that carrot dangling out in front of you. You know you can get it, you’ve just got to find a way.”