Truex, 43, had been considering leaving Cup for the past few years, which led him to sign a one-year contract with Joe Gibbs Racing and postpone the choice yearly for so long as possible.

On Friday at Iowa Speedway, Truex officially made his decision – he’ll leave the No. 19 JGR Toyota team at the top of the yr, no matter how his season goes.

“I think the news has been on the Internet all week, so you guys already know, and I don't know who I am here,” a visibly upset Truex said firstly of his news conference. “I just need to allow you to all know that I won't be back full time next yr.

“I'm obviously excited in regards to the remainder of the yr. It means loads to me to see Johnny Morris (owner of sponsor Bass Pro Shops) here. He was a giant supporter of mine. Without him, I wouldn't have been capable of accomplish any of the things I actually have completed.

“It was amazing. It was one hell of a ride. I'm excited about the future. I'm not sure what that looks like yet, but I'm happy with my decision. “

Still, Truex said it has been a “true honor” to work with all the crew members and team owners throughout his profession.

“I won't leave. I will still be around,” Truex insisted. “We will do things together and have fun.”

Truex stays winless in 2024, but sits fifth within the cup standings and is well positioned for an additional playoff appearance.

The experienced driver joined JGR in the beginning of the 2019 season. He has 34 wins at cup level – 32 since 2015 – and has finished worse than fifth in points only thrice within the last 10 seasons. He won his only Cup championship with Furniture Row Racing in 2017.

2017 champion Martin Truex Jr., Furniture Row Racing Toyota

Photo: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport images

“I obviously have a lot of respect for Martin,” said JGR owner Joe Gibbs. “I did every thing I could to maintain it going. I feel we’ve got two 40-year-olds at the highest of their game straight away.

Truex's Cup profession spans almost 20 years and includes 673 starts. His first Cup victory got here in 2007 at his home track of Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway. He has won a few of NASCAR's biggest races, including two Coca-Cola 600 wins, a Southern 500 victory and five road course wins, including 4 at Sonoma.

Truex won Xfinity Series championships in 2004-05 for Chance 2 Motorsports and went to Cup to drive for Dale Earnhardt Inc., which eventually merged with Chip Ganassi Racing.

He later drove for Michael Waltrip Racing before joining Furniture Row in 2014. The team ceased operations after 2018, and Truex has been driving for JGR since then.

He has three starts within the Truck Series with one win, five wins in what’s now ARCA East and a pair of victories within the now-defunct International Race of Champions.

Toyota statement

“Martin has been a fierce competitor, champion and loyal friend to Toyota and TRD for over a decade. He is the only NASCAR driver to win Cup races driving a Toyota Camry in three different racing team organizations – a remarkable achievement. His genuine personality and consistent performances have made him a fan favorite and someone who will truly be missed on the track each week. Martin's racing achievements highlight his talent, and his outstanding work off the track with the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation. shows what an amazing person he still is. Martin is a future Hall of Famer and someone we will always be honored to call part of the Team Toyota family.”

Watch: Joe Gibbs talks future with Martin Truex Jr. after retirement

For the primary time this season, Cup teams had a 50-minute rehearsal on Friday, this time since it is the primary race within the series on the 875-mile oval. The track has recently been partially renovated.

With several cars making practice qualifying runs towards the top of the session, Gragson achieved a maximum average speed of 300,000 km/h.

Ty Gibbs was second fast (136.558 mph) and Alex Bowman was third (136.334 mph).

Justin Haley and Chase Elliott rounded out the highest five.

Rounding out the highest ten were Ross Chastain, Harrison Burton, Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon and Chase Briscoe.

Among drivers who accomplished not less than 10 consecutive laps, Tyler Reddick (who also suffered a right front puncture) had the best average lap speed (135.168 mph), followed by Chastain and Bowman.

About 14 minutes into the session, Gibbs was forced to go away the track after getting a flat on his right front tire, but he managed to maintain his No. 54 Toyota off the Turn 3 wall.

Minutes after returning to the green, Gibbs' Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell also suffered damage to his right front tire, but he hit the wall quite hard between Turns 3 and 4, causing significant damage to the correct side of his No. 20 Toyota.

Watch: Christopher Bell crashes his lead automobile right into a wall during a rehearsal

“I just lost a tire, man. I lost a tire,” Bell said after the incident. When asked about what he learned during his time on the track, he said: “It's kind of what we expected. Lots of grip at the underside and that's what we expected.”

Bell's No. 20 team was forced to maneuver to a spare automobile and may have to begin Sunday's race behind the sector.

About half-hour into the session, Chastain's No. 1 Chevrolet got here to rest on the rear pulley after the left rear tire appeared to fail. It took him almost 13 minutes to tow his automobile on a dolly back to the garage.

Austin Cindric suffered damage to his right front tire and grazed the wall of Turn 2 about 10 minutes into practice. He can even head to the spare automobile and join Bell behind the sector.

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.

Saturday's qualifying session was shortened from two to 1 resulting from prolonged weather delays, but was still held in groups.

The best five competitors from each group were in the highest ten starts, and the fastest of the ten competitors took pole position.

Larson, who won last weekend's race at Sonoma for his third victory of the 2024 season, was ultimately eliminated last in Group B, which posted significantly more speed than Group A.

Larson's lap of 136.458 mph easily passed the second group and was the fastest overall, giving him the pole position for Sunday's opening Cup race at Iowa.

This is Larson's fourth pole position of the season and twentieth in his profession.

“It was definitely tough,” Larson said of his qualifying attempt. “It wasn't as difficult as I expected. I just watched everyone (they passed before me) and everybody was really relaxed and nervous. I used to be just attempting to be a bit of below the rim, but I assume.

“My lap was quite smooth and a bit nervous, but it surely wasn't as bad as I expected. It helped that I used to be the last one, I could watch everyone, seek advice from Cliff (Daniels, crew chief) before I left.

“I'm completely happy to take pole position. I used to be hoping for rain and didn't understand how we might qualify.

Reigning series champion Ryan Blaney was second (136.311 mph), Josh Berry was third, William Byron fourth and Brad Keselowski rounded out the highest five.

Rounding out the highest ten were Chase Briscoe (who was fastest in Group A), Kyle Busch, Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell.

Both Bell and Austin Cindric had to maneuver to order cars after crashes in Friday practice, so each can have to begin Sunday's race behind the sphere.

Round 1 / Group B

Almost everyone within the second group was faster than those in the primary, with Larson leading at 230.00 km/h.

Blaney was second fastest (136.311 mph) and Berry third (135.916 mph).

Byron and Keselowski also advanced to the highest ten of the group.

Among those that didn’t advance were Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, Martin Truex Jr. and Alex Bowman.

Round 1 / Group A

Briscoe was one in every of the primary 10 cars on course and ultimately achieved a top average lap speed of 230.00 km/h, which set a high benchmark from the beginning.

Busch was second within the group at 132.928 mph and Reddick was third (132.872 mph).

Also joining the highest ten starting Group A were Elliott and Bell, who were fourth and fifth fastest.

Among those that didn’t advance were Denny Hamlin, Todd Gilliland and Bubba Wallace.