MEXICO CITY — Ryan Truex says he found out Wednesday evening that he’d be lacing up his racing shoes for Sunday’s first NASCAR Cup Series race in Mexico, subbing in for Joe Gibbs Racing while Denny Hamlin is on paternity leave.
There’s plenty at stake for the 33-year-old driver: his first Cup start since 2014, a high-profile ride in the No. 11 Toyota, but also one other important factor. Thanks to brother Martin Truex Jr., he has his family reputation to uphold.
“I texted him this week when I found out, and he said, ‘you know, the Truexes are 1-for-1 in Mexico,’ so no pressure,” Ryan Truex said Friday, recalling his older brother’s 2005 win in what is now the Xfinity Series. “I’m glad he could throw that at me.”
Another NASCAR series will debut at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Sunday’s Viva Mexico 250 (3 p.m. ET, Prime Video, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), and just like 20 years ago, another Truex will be in it. Hamlin’s decision to skip Sunday’s race to remain home with his family after the birth of his third child opened the door for Truex to fill in. Hamlin, a three-time winner this year, requested and has been granted a waiver by NASCAR officials to retain his eligibility for the Cup Series Playoffs.
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Truex has been a potential substitute for the No. 11 team the last three weekends leading up to the Mexico City event and was also a fill-in option in practice for Tyler Reddick of fellow Toyota team 23XI Racing during Coca-Cola 600 practice. But the tumult of navigating international travel one day after getting the call from JGR, Truex admits, has been a lot.
“It’s been a crazy few weeks — especially since Charlotte, I’ve been on standby,” said the younger Truex, who will be making his first national-series start since the Xfinity season opener at Daytona. “I’m glad it is at a track where I can practice and have time and know what to do. I found out on Wednesday night, so it has been kind of chaotic getting here and putting all of that together, but I’m just grateful for the experience and grateful to be here. Really just want to enjoy it. I don’t really have any set goals or expectations — I just want to enjoy the weekend. I’m driving a Cup car for Joe Gibbs at an international race — this is not something I ever dreamed of doing, (so) just want to take it all in and have a good time.”
Truex said that each time he received a text from No. 11 crew chief Chris Gayle in recent weeks, his heart jumped, wondering if his driving duties would be needed. When that moment came, Gayle and the team went about making adjustments to the car’s interior — pedal heights, especially — during Friday’s garage hours at the Mexico City circuit.
“It is really easy working with him, and for us, we’ve already had him in preparation for one of those other realities,” Gayle told NASCAR.com. “We had him in the car and said, ‘OK, what are our options? What do we need to do to get him to crawl in if Denny was getting out, or if he was running the whole weekend?’ So he saw us kind of work in the car this morning, kind of get the whole plan for, OK, Ryan’s around the whole weekend. Let’s get it closer to what he wants.”
Gayle said he has not served as Truex’s crew chief before, but there’s a level of familiarity with him. Truex has been a fixture in JGR’s simulator testing, plus he’s scored all three of his Xfinity Series career wins in Gibbs equipment in the last two seasons with the program.
“We did get one full day (of simulator time) in with him, which is kind of normal prep for a normal weekend with him this week before here, so that part’s been seamless,” Gayle said. “He’s been around for a while, we know him, obviously know his brother, all the rest. So it’s been pretty easy.”
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The simulator experience promises to give Truex better footing on a road course that’s new to the majority of drivers in the field. It’s also an opportunity for a sense of redemption from his only past stint in the Cup Series — a handful of spot starts in 2013 before what was planned to be a full-season go for BK Racing the next year. That tenure came to a halt when the two sides parted company nine races before the season’s end after eight DNFs and otherwise subpar performance.
“My last time in Cup was not a fun experience. It didn’t go well for me. I didn’t enjoy it,” Truex said. “That was probably not the right move for me, career-wise, and I’ve kind of been fighting back since then. I enjoy everything I do at JGR. I’ve been able to race part-time the last couple of years, and do all of this stuff away from the track. It has been nice. It has been fun to race part-time and have some Saturdays at home, but it is also fun to be at the track, so I feel like I’ve had a good balance the last few years, and the Cup cars then are so different than what they are now. I have some experience now with the Gen-7 car with some testing and things and doing the sim stuff every single week — I feel like I’ve run a million laps here already the past month. I definitely feel like I’m ready.”
Ryan Truex was just two weeks shy of his 13th birthday when older brother Martin prevailed on the metropolitan road course in March 2005 while on the way to his second consecutive Xfinity Series championship. The younger Truex recalled the “super nervous” feeling of watching his brother leading, facing a stout challenge from home-nation star Adrián Fernández.
The Mexico City course layout has changed in the 20 years that have passed, but one thing that hasn’t is big brother’s direct nature when talking racing.
“He’s been good for advice,” Ryan Truex said. “I did ask him about Michigan — and he just said ‘a lot of throttle.’ That was his whole debrief with me — ‘a lot of throttle.’ What you guys see on TV, that is him. That’s how he is — short and to the point. If I ask him stuff, he will tell me, but I don’t know how much it will translate from 2005.”
If it does, Sunday could provide a sentimental Truex 2-for-2.
