Martin Truex Jr. won’t win a race in his final season as per Kyle Petty

Former NASCAR driver Kyle Petty gave his take on Martin Truex Jr.'s chances of clinching a win in his final season. The 64-year-old opined that the Joe Gibbs Racing driver wouldn't be able to bag a single victory and will retire with a winless 2024 season.

Recently, the #19 Toyota driver put an end to speculations about his retirement that were floating since 2022. During a press conversation at the Iowa Speedway, Truex Jr. announced that this year will be his final full-time Cup Series season. However, the 2017 Cup champ will be serving other roles and will be found at Joe Gibbs Racing's stable next season as well.

In his 17 races so far, Martin Truex Jr. has collected four top-5s and seven top-10s. But he came quite close to tasting his maiden victory this season at the Bristol Motor Speedway, where he was leading the pack, but due to a pit stop under caution, his teammate Denny Hamlin took over. On the restart, the #11 Toyota jumpstarted its way to victory while the #19 Toyota settled in second place.

Nonetheless, Kyle Petty believes that the New Jersey native couldn't rake in a victory in his final season. He said (via PRN):

"I don't believe Truex Jr. is going to win any races this year. I'm surprised he's 122 points ahead [of the playoffs threshold], because I've seen this so many times in this sport, you have to be 100% committed. He's saying, 'I'm committed for the rest of the year, I'm not 100% committed to this forever.'" [02:15]

"And that's my point, I saw it with all these great drivers that have come. Once they make that choice that they're not coming back, they seem to lose just a half step, a quarter step, a fraction of step, but that's all it takes in Cup racing to get beat on a regular basis," Petty added.

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Martin Truex Jr. fell victim to Kyle Busch's error at Kansas and got robbed of another potential victory

At the Kansas Speedway, the #19 Toyota fell victim to a late-race caution which robbed the JGR driver of a potential victory. During the closing moments of the race, Martin Truex Jr. rose from loafing around the top 5s to chasing the frontrunners, who were on fuel-saving strategy and weren't running at full potential.

After catching up to the pack, the #19 Toyota trailed behind the leader, Denny Hamlin. Only seven laps were left and Martin Truex Jr. was closing in on his teammate, but the turnaround of events occurred, courtesy of Richard Childress Racing's #8 Chevy. Kyle Busch spun out and prompted a caution which reset the field and the JGR driver lost his lead. As a result, Truex Jr. finished fourth.

The retiring driver is currently fifth on the Cup Series standings and will be next seen at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where he secured his last Cup win.