Martin Truex Jr was born on June 6th, 1980, and grew up in Mayetta, New Jersey.
Even as a young child, Martin Truex Jr knew that driving race cars was his calling, considering that his father, Martin Truex, was an established racer in the Northeast. By age 11, he was racing go-karts. At the age of 14, Truex Jr won the Junior Class Championship as well as the New Jersey Championship Series at the New Egypt Speedway. His early success set the stage for a prosperous stock car racing career.
At the age of 18, Truex Jr won his first feature Modified event. By the year 2000, Truex Jr’s father allowed him to take over his Busch North Series ride. Later that season, he won his first Busch North Series event at the New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire.
In 2001, Truex Jr made his NASCAR Busch Series debut at Dover International Speedway driving for his family-owned team. After qualifying 19th, Truex Jr would finish a disappointing 38th position following an early accident.
In 2002 at New Hampshire, Truex Jr endeavored to qualify for another Busch Series event. After qualifying 13th, he would finish 29th driving for James Finch, owner of Phoenix Racing. Truex Jr would qualify for three additional races in 2002 driving for his father.
In 2003, Truex Jr and his father continued the daunting task of fielding a financially challenged single-car team in the Busch Series. However, the hard work paid off as Truex Jr was approached by Dale Earnhardt Jr later in the season to drive for Chance 2 Motorsports, a team that operated under the Dale Earnhardt, Inc. umbrella. His debut with Chance 2 Motorsports was at Richmond International Raceway for the Hardees 250 in May. Following a sixth place qualifying effort, Truex Jr would lead eleven laps before he prematurely pulled into the garage due to a transmission malfunction. He would finish 31st. Nevertheless, people were starting to notice Martin Truex Jr.
At Bristol in August, Truex Jr posted an impressive sixth place finish. He also finished in the top ten at the North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, NC, as well as the Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Considered one of NASCAR’s budding talents, Martin Truex Jr was hired by Chance 2 Motorsports to run a full-time NASCAR Busch Series schedule in 2004.
Bass Pro Shops, along with various sponsorship packages, supported the effort. In March of 2004, under the guidance of crew chief Kevin ‘Bono’ Manion, Truex Jr earned his first career Busch Series win, and would go on to win five additional races en route to the Busch Series title. He would win the championship by 230 points over Kyle Busch.
In 2005, Truex Jr entered the Busch Series season as the favorite to capture the title; however, there was a crop of newcomers that appeared primed and ready to contend for the championship- Clint Bowyer, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Reed Sorenson, and J.J. Yeley. Throughout the majority of the season, it was Clint Bowyer that posed the biggest threat to Truex Jr’s championship repeat. Nonetheless, Truex Jr won six races and would end the season 69 points ahead of Bowyer and win his second successive Busch Series championship.
The 2005 season included wins at Mexico City and Daytona International Raceway. In addition to winning the Busch Series title, Truex Jr finished second in the IROC standings.
His sheer dominance in the NASCAR Busch Series earned both he and his team the golden opportunity to compete at NASCAR’s highest level of competition with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Virtually the same group that Truex Jr fended off for the previous Busch Series championship was the same group that he would compete against for the Raybestos Rookie of the Year title.
Truex Jr’s rookie season was considered substandard based on the benchmark that he and his team set in the Busch Series. He finished the season with a pair of top fives and five top tens, and placed 19th in the final Nextel Cup championship standings. He finished third in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings behind Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer.
After finishing the 2006 campaign with a second place finish at Homestead, Truex Jr was a logical pick to compete as one of the 12 drivers in the Chase for the Championship in 2007. After a sluggish start to the 2007 season, Truex Jr finally recorded his first NASCAR Nextel Cup victory at Dover International Raceway. He convincingly won the race by over 7 seconds over Ryan Newman. His win appeared to be the thrust that his team needed as they would score three top five finishes over the next four races.
After finishing 15th in the Chevrolet Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond in September of 2007, Truex Jr officially earned a spot in the Chase for the Championship.
Martin Truex Jr finished 11th in the final 2007 championship standings.
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