Truex’ 2014 struggles on track — consistent bad luck and frequent car problems in his first year with the Furniture Row team — now seem firmly in the rear-view mirror. And away from the track, Truex’s girlfriend Sherry Pollex is responding well in treatment for ovarian cancer — diagnosed last summer.
By all reasonable standards, Truex is already a winner this year. He just hasn’t hoisted a trophy. Yet.
Perspective has come from facing great hardship and it has been evident even in disappointment for Truex.
After leading a race-best 131 laps in Sunday night’s grueling Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, he was interviewed on pit road and initially grimaced at yet another near-miss — a fifth place finish. But before the camera pulled away, Truex had summoned a smile and offered perspective.
MORE: #TBT: Truex earns first career Cup win
After all that he and Pollex have endured in the past year, good days behind the wheel are a bonus. And Truex is collecting lots of bonus right now.
"Toward the end of last year things were looking bad and the car wasn’t running well and I was in front-line treatment (for cancer),” Pollex said. "Now his team is on fire and they have the car to beat every weekend. I’m still in my maintenance chemo, but I live a normal life with it.
"Even if Martin wasn’t doing well on track, we’re kinda winning at life. There are so many things we are thankful for."
And as they have for years, Truex and Pollex have generously given back on their blessings through the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation.
The foundation’s marquee event, Catwalk for a Cause — a fundraiser for pediatric cancer research and treatment at the Charlotte-based Levine Children’s Hospital — was held May 13 and raised nearly $300,000.
The awareness generated and hearts warmed were priceless.
A couple dozen of the sport’s biggest names showed up to bid on silent auction items and cheer the participants on as they walked the runway wearing fashions from local boutiques and Belk’s. The Mooresville, N.C., facility’s décor was created by former NASCAR driver Shawna Robinson, who recently completed treatment for breast cancer herself.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman and Danica Patrick were among those who walked the runway with young cancer patients.
"Sherry (Pollex) does so much and these kids have such great spirit and they don’t know any different,” said Danica Patrick, who dazzled on stage alongside fellow NASCAR driver and boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and 6-year old, Mya, who is undergoing chemotherapy for a form of leukemia.
"It shows how you can be in those situations if you don’t think too far forward, and live in the moment."
It’s a lesson Pollex has had reinforced. Her commitment to the spring event never wavered even in the immediate days after being diagnosed with cancer herself.
"God works in mysterious ways,” Truex said. "When Sherry first got diagnosed she thought about all the kids she had in the Catwalk before and the kids to come and said, ‘If they can do this, I can do this.’ ‘
"That was honestly the first thing she thought, ‘I’m going to show them I can do it, then they will do it.’ And it’s a constant snowball effect."
Pollex is philosophical about the irony of the situation. For years she has dedicated herself to helping this cause through the foundation’s resources.
"I remember not long after I was diagnosed, telling my mom that God must have had a plan for me because I’ve spent half my life teaching kids how to beat this disease then I ended up with it,” Pollex said. "I definitely think it’s ironic. Maybe God knew I would have to teach them how to fight and then one day I’d know what they went through. I can’t imagine there being any other plan for me.
"If you try to just look at the positive side of it, it’s an opportunity to know what they’ve been through and what the treatments are like.
"Nobody really knows what cancer is like unless you have it. You have an empathy that no one can explain unless you’re a survivor. It gives me an opportunity to teach them to beat the disease."
Because it is considered a "rare" form of cancer, pediatric cancer receives only a small fraction of the funding for research and new treatment that adult forms of cancer receive, according to Dr. Javier Oesterheld, interim director of Levine’s Pediatric Hematology and Oncology unit.
The money raised by Truex and Pollex is extremely important.
"I will tell you, NASCAR as a whole is incredible about this,” Oesterheld said. "This event is so amazing, how much it raises and just the awareness it puts out there.
"All we need (for our cause) is our one person to really push it forward. People like Martin and Jeff Gordon. They’ve really made a huge difference for us."
Beyond the practical side of raising money, the Catwalk has a special and undeniable tangible effect. The very people benefitting get to be a part of the process. And by the end of the evening, it was genuinely hard to see who was helping whom.
The kids were grinning and laughing and hamming it up despite their tough circumstances. And the adults were smiling back at them, inspired by their strength and spirit, awed by the lesson of living in the moment.
It’s impossible not to leave Catwalk without being moved.
"Imagine the feeling these kids get when they’re up here helping their peers,” Truex said. "They have friends back in the hospital that were too sick to come here tonight. Imagine what they feel in their heart when they’re up here and everyone’s cheering for them and they say, ‘This is for our friends back in the hospital and for kids that haven’t been diagnosed yet.’
"These kids raise the money. We don’t.
"At the end of the day, we’re both blessed to be healthy enough to do it, especially Sherry with what she’s been through. This year was extra special to her for that reason."
Pollex agreed.
"We were so humbled all those people were there, and I feel like this year was different because of my diagnosis,” she said.
"We’ve always wanted to help people. And now that we can’t have kids of our own it takes on a new importance in our lives. Those kids become our kids. "
With the way Truex has been contending, it won’t be long until the couple gets to celebrate their perseverance and resolve in Victory Lane.
He’s a legitimate favorite this weekend.
Truex scored his career first Cup win at Dover’s Monster Mile in 2007 and has an impressive two pole positions and eight top-10s in 18 starts at the notoriously tough concrete oval.
"I would never want our lives necessarily to turn out this way, but Martin is a completely different person (since I was diagnosed with cancer) and looks at everything differently, not just racing,” Pollex said.
"I don’t know how anyone could be the same person after going through this.
"I look at it like we got an opportunity to show God what we’re made of."
