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It was one of those moments that will linger long after the burnout smoke fades. Martin Truex Jr., in tears and a champion, climbing out of his car and engulfing girlfriend Sherry Pollex in a monster hug: The capstone moment of a weekend that will long be remembered as one of the most iconic in this era.
Years from now, Ford Championship Weekend 2017 will be mentioned in the same breath as “1992 Atlanta.” Twenty-five years ago, NASCAR’s season ended with what would become one of its most memorable races. Richard Petty’s final race; Jeff Gordon’s first. Five drivers with a reasonable shot at winning the title, with Alan Kulwicki taking the crown.
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The similarities are abundant. Truex Jr. is the unheralded upstart-turned-powerhouse, winning his first title in the same race that was likely the last one for his good friend Dale Earnhardt Jr. and fellow veteran Matt Kenseth. Truex Jr. held off perhaps the driver of this generation in Kyle Busch, who stalked him over the final 35 laps but couldn’t quite sneak by.
Prior to Sunday’s race, a shift in the balance of power to the burgeoning young superstars was apparent.
Christopher Bell, 22, won his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title on Friday. He did so by outrunning a two-time champion (Matt Crafton) and the defending champ (Johnny Sauter) — with an average combined age of 40 years old.
And get this — Bell actually is older than the NASCAR XFINITY Series champion, William Byron. Byron’s title, at age 19, caps a rookie season in the series that yielded four wins and a performance so strong that he earned a promotion to powerful Hendrick Motorsports in 2018.
Two of the pre-eminent budding superstars in the sport, capturing their first national series titles on back-to-back nights. How many wins will they have over the next several years? How many championships?
Then there’s Truex, who said earlier in the week he was sitting on his porch four years ago, wondering if he’d ever race again. Now, he’s the series champion, winning eight races in 2017 — the last of which came at Miami and capped a championship season. He’s the face of a budding power of an operation in Denver — yes, Colorado — that has many more wins ahead of it.
Truex Jr. and Earnhardt Jr. swapped paint post-race, with Junior driving his No. 88 Chevrolet over for a celebratory high-five. Truex Jr. got his NASCAR shot, of course, when Junior put him in a Dale Earnhardt, Inc. car.
All these years later, Earnhardt Jr. is stepping away as a full-time driver, but his enduring legacy continues. One had to simply look at the championship stage, where Truex Jr. was celebrating, to see that.