When Martin Truex Jr. arrived for his Charlotte Media Tour interview session late last month he looked as happy and optimistic as you would expect a returning championship contender. He was smiling, joking and really quite ready for competition to commence.
And yet much of what he can reasonably expect in 2016 remains unclear — except for that shiny Sprint Cup championship trophy.
After finishing a career-best fourth-place in the 2015 Sprint Cup title run, Truex will be driving a new car make — Toyota — this year. And the opportunity to pair and share technology with reigning Cup championship Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team only raises expectations.
Most athletes are optimistic in the weeks before the season starts, but Truex feels it’s warranted.
“Since it’s the first day of the media tour I guess I can get away with saying I’m excited,” Truex said breaking into a wide grin.
“It’s a big deal for everyone at Furniture Row Racing to start off with manufacturer support, it’s a big deal for our team and our group to have that for the first time.
“Everything is shaping up for another great season hopefully and I’m looking forward to getting on the track and seeing where we stand.”
For Truex, the 2015 season represented a move into elite status — he qualified for the four-driver, one-race championship finale competing against Gibbs (Kyle Busch) and the Chevrolet strongholds of Hendrick Motorsports (Jeff Gordon) and Stewart Haas Racing (Kevin Harvick). Reaching title contention with a single car team like Furniture Row Racing was a strong statement.
“Confidence is a big part of this sport and certainly mine was raised last year,” Truex said. “It’s fun to go to a race track when everyone’s on your side and has your back and you’re not worrying about losing your job. It’s nice to be in a great spot with great people who believe in each other. You can focus 100 percent on what you need to do for your race car.”
While most drivers are eager to take the first green flag, Truex feels like he’s almost got to control his expectations — a good position to be in. While he acknowledges much is still to be learned about the new car and also the new low down-force package the Cup series will run in 2016, Truex genuinely seems as focused and comfortable as he has looked in many seasons.
“It makes you excited, and you really anticipate the season starting to see where you stand,” Truex said. “The anticipation is always there for all of us, the new year where we come in to see where we measure up. You never really know. You have two months of offseason to get all the work to find the most speed you can and you don’t know what you’re doing, you’re basically working blind.
“I’ve been pleasantly surprised. I wasn’t sure how much into sharing JGR would be. Would they give us everything and say, ‘here it is.’
“And they have, it’s been an open book and I’m really proud for my guys for that. They are all working together right now. Once we get to the race track and try to figure it all out, it’s going to be fun.
“When I first heard we were partnering with Joe Gibbs Racing, I was a little skeptical because I remember back when I was with Michael Waltrip Racing (Toyota team) and they didn’t want to share even what size bolt they had in the back window,” Truex said with a laugh.
“But the willingness to go out of the way to make sure we have everything we need to help us make sure we’re doing it right, they (Gibbs) have such an impressive group of people there. For them to take us in and want to make sure we’re on the same page is awesome.”
Truex said he felt his team could have won up to six races last year if not for isolated cases of this-or-that. He led the points standings three times in the Chase and was ranked second or third from late February until June. He posted a career best for top-fives (eight) and top-10s (22) and won at Pocono Raceway in the summer.
“You can always do better,” Truex said. “We want to be faster, lead more laps, make fewer mistakes and go to Homestead and do better this time around.
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and we’ll be able to use it going forward.
“My experience is that any time you have to change team stuff, if there’s a big rule change that comes with it, it’s probably the best time to do it (change manufacturers),” Truex said. “Everyone’s going to be learning it, there’s going to be a big effort from everybody.
“Nobody really knows how it’s going to look at the beginning of the season, but I think we’re in store for a good one.”
