The 2007 Season So Far - Martin Truex Jr.
Martin has had a steady and decent year. Despite a rocky start to the season with a late race crash at Daytona and an engine failure at California that put the #1 Bass Pro Shops team dangerously close to the 35th place in owners points, Martin now sits solidly 18th in the standings. In his sophomore year, he has 3 top-10s so far, but has run much better than numbers show.
One thing that is noticeable is his improvement on 1.5 mile tracks that seemed to trick all of DEI last year. The #1 team has their best finishes on them, with a 12th at Las Vegas, an 8th at Atlanta and a 7th at Texas (one top-10 was also at Talladega, but that is not surprising).
However, Martin has seemed to struggle with the new car (formerly know as the Car of Tomorrow). He has gotten into some wrecks and short tracks will be short tracks, but if NASCAR is going to bring the new car in full time next year, the team is going to have to improve to be competitive.
Just recently came the bomb, when Dale Jr. announced he will not drive for DEI next year. Rumor had it that Junior would extend JR Motorsports into the Cup Series and Martin would leave DEI as well to drive there. When the Darlington weekend began, Martin stated that he would race out his contract with DEI, which runs through 2008. Although he said that Junior leaving the team would not affect the #1 directly, he did admit that he would miss having him around to seek advice from. "I think missing his experience, being able to go to him any time I want, call him any time I want and get true information from him. That's probably going to be the hardest part and the worst thing I'll miss about it."
I think Martin and his team will continue to improve as the season rolls on. The man didn't win two Busch Championships by being stupid. I am interested to see what will happen to him next year and how Junior's absence changes how he is treated at DEI.
One thing that is noticeable is his improvement on 1.5 mile tracks that seemed to trick all of DEI last year. The #1 team has their best finishes on them, with a 12th at Las Vegas, an 8th at Atlanta and a 7th at Texas (one top-10 was also at Talladega, but that is not surprising).
However, Martin has seemed to struggle with the new car (formerly know as the Car of Tomorrow). He has gotten into some wrecks and short tracks will be short tracks, but if NASCAR is going to bring the new car in full time next year, the team is going to have to improve to be competitive.
Just recently came the bomb, when Dale Jr. announced he will not drive for DEI next year. Rumor had it that Junior would extend JR Motorsports into the Cup Series and Martin would leave DEI as well to drive there. When the Darlington weekend began, Martin stated that he would race out his contract with DEI, which runs through 2008. Although he said that Junior leaving the team would not affect the #1 directly, he did admit that he would miss having him around to seek advice from. "I think missing his experience, being able to go to him any time I want, call him any time I want and get true information from him. That's probably going to be the hardest part and the worst thing I'll miss about it."
I think Martin and his team will continue to improve as the season rolls on. The man didn't win two Busch Championships by being stupid. I am interested to see what will happen to him next year and how Junior's absence changes how he is treated at DEI.
