Savory lobster: Truex Jr. builds momentum with special New Hampshire win
LOUDON, N.H. — Since 2016, Martin Truex Jr. did just about everything but win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He led 100-plus laps in five of the last nine races at the “Magic Mile” entering Monday‘s Crayon 301. Potential trips to Victory Lane seemed to slip away in every possible way imaginable.
Aside from the Daytona 500, winning at New Hampshire ranked near the top of Truex‘s bucket list, and it was clear from the drop of the green flag this time around that the No. 19 car was going to be a factor yet again.
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Truex took the lead from Christopher Bell on the second lap of the race, and never truly looked back. The only time he didn‘t lead was when other cars went off strategy. No driver ever passed the No. 19 Toyota for the lead on the race track, as Truex stomped the field by leading 254 of 301 laps and capturing seven important playoff points. He also took ownership of the regular season championship lead.
“I think it’s no secret that I’ve been after this one for a long time,” Truex said after the race. “It’s always been one that I wanted so bad, and maybe I think too bad at times.”
For years, Truex has dreamed about winning at New Hampshire. Despite his hometown of Mayetta, New Jersey, being more than six hours away, the 43-year-old has fond memories of being in the Granite State. His all-time favorite moment was watching his dad Martin Truex Sr. compete in the Busch Grand National North Series in a combination race. He said he believes the year was 1996.
On that day, Martin Sr.‘s car was parked in the garage across from Dale Earnhardt’s. The younger Martin recalls seeing Earnhardt busy working on the carburetor. Back then, many of the drivers worked on their own equipment.
“Just seeing that was really cool because he was one of my favorite drivers growing up,” Truex said. “It was the first time I got around anybody of that caliber of racing, and it was a very, very special memory.”
Truex also recalls seeing his dad winning at the 1.058-mile track in 1994 on TV with Darrell Waltrip and Buddy Baker calling the race.
Preparation for this year‘s New Hampshire race began after the No. 19 team won its second race of the 2023 season, last month at Sonoma Raceway. While flying back to the Charlotte area with the No. 19 team, Truex made it clear that New Hampshire was one race it needed to have this year.
“We were talking about, this is the one,” James Small, Truex‘s crew chief, said. “We need to win this one. Hopefully, he doesn’t go and retire on us now that he’s got it.
“It’s important. We put the same effort in every week, but we just know that we come here and we really expect to win, and thankfully we crossed it off the list today.”
Since rejoining the Toyota family in 2016, Truex has led 1,022 laps at New Hampshire. In 30 starts at the track, his total number of laps led has rocketed to 1,170, which is third on the all-time list, only behind Jeff Gordon (1,373) and Tony Stewart (1,302). The caveat: The two other drivers have more starts (Gordon 42; Stewart 35).
Truex isn‘t sure that those numbers would be possible without his father. In 2000, Martin Truex Sr. was planning on running a couple of Busch North races while his son would run the full season. After the first race of the season, which happened to be at New Hampshire, all the focus was shifted to the younger Truex.
“He’s like, you’re too good. I need to give you my cars — the best equipment I have and put everything behind you,” Truex Jr. recalled. “I’m like, why are you doing that? Doesn’t matter. We’re just going to go race. He’s like, no, because you can win here and keep going.
“It’s crazy to think that was 23 years ago, what has been between then and now, and to be right here again at this track with just a huge accomplishing day, with a great performance from my team just brings back a lot of memories of what this place means to me and to my career.”
By scoring maximum points on Monday and with William Byron relegated to a 24th-place finish, Truex has moved back in command of the regular season championship. He holds a 17-point advantage over the No. 24 team, despite having an average finish of 30.5 over the two races leading into New Hampshire at the Chicago Street Course and Atlanta Motor Speedway.
With three victories, all coming in the last 10 races, Truex‘s name will be thrown around as a potential championship favorite. The No. 19 team will let the outsiders continue that chatter while it focuses on continuing to put fast race cars on the track.
MORE: Truex tops updated title odds
“It’s very up and down,” Small, who now has eight wins as a crew chief, said. “Obviously, we’re showing strong pace across a variety of tracks, and it’s just about executing it.
“You can do that all day and have things out of your control go wrong and take you out of it. Take every race one at a time, each week at a time, and try to maximize it. We’ll see if we wind up there and if we can do it, but I feel really good about it right now.”
Truex agrees that minimizing mistakes remains crucial.
“We’ve got to execute,” he said. “We’ve got to go win races. We’ve got to get points. But the regular season championship is a big deal; 15 points for that. If we can keep knocking off bonus points, that’s going to be very, very important come playoff time.
“Just keep digging and keep doing what we’re doing. The last two weeks have been tough with terrible finishes but really good race cars and really good runs. So we’re doing what we need to do, and just got to keep doing that and trying to keep gaining points.”
The Cup Series heads to another one of Truex‘s so-called home tracks next weekend at Pocono Raceway, less than 20 minutes further driving distance from Dover Motor Speedway to Truex‘s hometown. There, however, he already has a pair of victories.
Before that, he might be having some lobster, as that‘s among the newest trophies to his collection.
“What is he, 28 pounds, something like that? 22?” Truex said aloud. “Didn’t feel too heavy to me, but I was all jacked up on adrenaline. I’d damn sure like to go throw him on the grill right now if you can help me find him. Lobster rolls for everybody.”
