“Still want to do some racing”: Martin Truex Jr. leaves the door open for NASCAR after retirement

On Friday, Martin Truex Jr. announced he'd be retiring from NASCAR at the end of the season. While Truex Jr. is retiring from the Cup Series after nearly two decades, he said that he won't be stepping away from the sport completely.

After announcing his decision to retire, Martin Truex Jr. was confronted by Alex Weaver of NASCAR, who stressed that Truex Jr. indicated that he was only walking away from full-time racing. This prompted her to ask the #19 driver if he had any plans for racing in 2025. To which Truex Jr. said,

"I definitely still want to do some racing. I just don't know what it's going to look like, what I'll be running, or where I'll be running. I've already talked to Coach about wanting to run some Xfinity races or something. So I don't know, just ready to go and have some fun, and do something with a little less commitment and pressure." [at 1:17].

Speaking about why he decided to step away from full-time driving, Martin Truex Jr. claimed it "just felt like the right time." He revealed that he didn't have "one crazy reason" or a major factor riding his decision.

But rather, it was something he had been considering for the last few years, wondering how long he wanted to do this. And now that he announced his retirement, Truex said he's ready to have some Sundays off after a long time. He thanked his fans for the support, his partners, race teams, crew members, and everyone he's been associated with for "a heck of a ride."

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Martin Truex Jr. hoping to end full-time NASCAR driving on a high note

When Martin Truex Jr. opened up on his plans for more racing in 2025, he revealed that he wants to go out on top as a full-timer. Reflecting on his career, the #19 driver claimed he accomplished a lot more than he could have ever dreamed of, and that he wants the perfect final chapter on his career.

"It's been amazing so hopefully we can go out on top, go win some more races this year, and it'd be pretty awesome to get a championship and walk off," Truex said.

As for how he's going to achieve that, Martin Truex Jr. mentioned that the #19 team has "all the ingredients" and the tools along with the speed. The only problem that they need to fix is converting the wins that slipped from their hands. Truex deemed his 2024 campaign so far as "a year of near-misses."

So for him to win that second Cup title, Truex claimed they needed to turn the near-misses situation around and take advantage of races where they lead and run up front.

He added that his team is doing "a great job", and now they just need to "clean up" a few things along with having the luck go their way.