Hall of Fame bound? ‘Insane’ for Truex Jr. to contemplate

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- One of the perks to winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship comes in May, when the voting panel convenes to deliberate on the next NASCAR Hall of Fame class. The previous season's champion is among the few privileged who cast an official ballot. That may not be Martin Truex Jr.'s last brush with the Hall of Fame, either. The 2017 champion, Truex Jr. joined an absurdly elite group of NASCAR drivers to win a premier series championship -- just 32 drivers own that distinction, and it's the ultimate trump card when Truex Jr.'s name eventually appears on the ballot. "That's insane," said Truex Jr., who presented NASCAR's first champion Red Byron into the Hall of Fame earlier this month. "Yeah, I can't believe that. Just to think ‑‑ yeah, that's just crazy. Blows my mind." RELATED: Members of the Hall of Fame Strengthening Truex Jr.'s eventual case are his back-to-back NASCAR Xfinity Series titles in 2004-05, making him one of just five drivers to win titles in each of NASCAR's top two series. He enters 2018 primed to build on his career total of 15 wins following a prolific eight-win campaign. "I never thought about it until Winston Kelley (Executive Director, NASCAR Hall of Fame) actually said it to me," Truex Jr. said. "Before Christmas every year, our foundation, we go to Levine's and walk around and hand out toys to all the kids, and I put my Santa hat on. Winston Kelley always goes there and helps, and he's like, just out of the blue, we're standing there talking and getting ready to go hand out toys, and he's like, 'You know, you're pretty much a lock to get in here now.' "He told me that, and I was like, 'Well, I hadn't even thought of that.'" Another season like 2017 and Truex Jr. won't need to think twice.