For the past few years, Truex has made the choice yearly whether to return to the show for an additional season – often postponing it for so long as possible.
But the controversy was never about on-track performance. Even though he has yet to record a victory this 12 months, Truex insisted that results played no role.
“We definitely experienced some disappointments this year,” he said. “But it's not enough to make you stop doing what you want. Totally unrelated to performance in any way, shape or form.”
So what was it? Something more elusive and far more subjective.
“I just felt like it was the right time for me,” Truex explained Friday at Iowa Speedway. “Honestly, I've been enthusiastic about it lots over the previous few seasons and I used to be just waiting for that feeling to be positive, like, 'I'm OK, I'm OK, I would like to do something else.'
“Yes, this year was something different for me. I felt it was time to slow down and do something else. It was a great ride.”
Certainly yes.
The 43-year-old resident of Mayetta, New Jersey can boast of a cup profession spanning almost 20 years and almost 700 starts.
He has 34 wins on the Cup level – 32 because the 2015 season – and has finished worse than fifth within the series rankings only thrice within the last 10 seasons. He won his only Cup championship with Furniture Row Racing in 2017.
Truex's profession includes victories in a few of NASCAR's most prestigious races, including two Coca-Cola 600 wins, a victory within the Southern 500 and five road track victories, including 4 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway.
“I would say I have accomplished more than I ever thought I would,” Truex said of his profession. “With that being said, there are still loads of things which are heartbreaking, there are loads of things which you could look back on and think, 'Man, I wish this had turned out in a different way.'
“You know, I won the championship, thrice runner-up on this format. This is, I feel, really good. I'm happy with what I've done. I feel like I gave it my all and I feel like I used to be really good at what I did.
“Yes, I'm happy with it. I am satisfied. I feel good, I'm happy. I feel good about it.”
I didn't finish racing
He feels so good that he insisted he’ll proceed to play a job in NASCAR after this season – but he's unsure what form that may take.
His team owner Joe Gibbs said Truex shall be an “ambassador” for Joe Gibbs Racing and “maybe he can talk him into doing a few things.”
Truex definitely seemed willing to listen.
“I still love racing. I'm still going to do some racing. I don't know what, when, how, why, I don't know anything yet,” he said. “I'm going to unravel this. I feel very fortunate to be on this position and to find a way to make this decision alone terms.
“I all the time wanted to do that because there have been times in my profession where I didn't know if I’d have a job in a 12 months, six months or whatever.
“It just feels good to be able to follow your own path, do the things you want to do, and that's what led me to this.”
Sometimes you simply must feel good.
