The rumors and speculation about a potential retirement tour for Martin Truex Jr. can officially calm down, at least until next year, as the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series driver officially announced Friday at Nashville Superspeedway that he will return for the 2023 season.
“I will be back in the 19 next year,” Truex said during a media bullpen session following Friday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice session.
“At the end of the day, this is really what I want to do right now,” Truex continued.
Racing America’s Matt Weaver posted video of the talk from Truex:
Martin Truex Jr. says he never had the retirement conversation internally until this year and it was nice to just have that process and that he concluded that he wanted to be here and do this. pic.twitter.com/NBQTEyhW4J
— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) June 25, 2022
Truex, 41, currently sits sixth in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings, after 16 races in the 2022 season. However, Truex has yet to find victory lane with the new Next Gen race car.
Over the opening few months of the season, the rumor mill had began to severely speculate that 2022 could be the final season of Truex’s illustrious career.
Earlier this month, Truex addressed the speculation and confirmed that he had been weighing retirement and that an decision would be made in the coming weeks.
That decision officially was made on Friday at Nashville, it seems as Truex stated that he informed the team that he would be returning on Friday prior to him announcing it in the media session.
The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series driver and team lineup is starting to come into full focus. To keep up with it all, check out TobyChristie.com’s 2023 NASCAR Cup Series driver/team chart:
