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Denny Hamlin feels Martin Truex Jr. won't return post this season to fight for a championship. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is set to retire from full-time racing at the end of this season.
Martin Truex Jr. has raced as a full-time driver since the 2006 Cup Series season. He won the championship in 2017 and had 34 wins with 23 pole positions in his career. As his contract was set to end this year, speculations of his retirement loomed around the NASCAR garages, and it was announced earlier in June that he would no longer take part as a full-time driver from 2025.
While some still believe that he might return to racing after a short break, his teammate Denny Hamlin denied the possibility. When asked if Martin Truex Jr. would return to chase his second Cup Series title, Hamlin stated that one can't "talk" him into it (via NASCAR):
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"I don’t think you’ll talk (him into it). I don’t think you back that train up with Martin for sure. But, you know, I think it’s great that he still has goals and things that he wants to achieve."
"And so I think being really a Florida resident, it makes it pretty easy for him to want to participate in our biggest race and certainly, it’s been a race that has, unfortunately, evaded his resume for one or two reasons, but I don’t know. It’s just think it would be good all around for everyone," he added.
Martin Truex Jr. reveals he would "love to come back" to New Hampshire post-retirement
The 43-year-old collected his first win at New Hampshire in 2023, one of his three wins in the season. He has raced on the track every single year since 2006, taking part in all the Cup Series events on the 1.058-mile oval, and it seems that his wish to run on the circuit is not yet over.
Ahead of the race this weekend, Martin Truex Jr. stated in a press conference that he would "love to" return to the circuit after his retirement as a part-time driver to take part in the event.
"I haven't really looked into all that yet and started the scheduling process. Kind of just focused on what we're doing here but you know eventually we'll figure it out and it's definitely a place I would love to come back to."
The #19 Toyota driver has been quite competitive this season as well, marking four top-five finishes. His best finish in 2024 has been a second-place in Bristol.
