NEWTON, Iowa — NASCAR driver Martin Truex Jr. announced Friday he will retire from full-time racing at the end of the current season, saying it’s time to live by his own schedule after 19 years on the top-tier Cup Series.
“I mean, it’s as simple as just not having a crazy schedule where, you know, you’re 40 weekends at a race track,” Truex said at Iowa Speedway, where he will be making the 674th start of his Cup Series career on Sunday. “Everyone in my family who’s ever gotten married, I’ve missed their wedding. You know what I mean? … You don’t have a life.
“You’re married to racing, that’s all you do. Monday until Sunday, that’s all you do.”
Questions about possible retirement have followed Truex over the past couple years. The news broke on Thursday as reports cited unnamed sources — “I don’t even know why I’m here,” Truex joked as he started his news conference — but the driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota said he made the decision “a few weeks ago.”
“I was leaning that way most of the season,” said Truex, who turns 44 on June 29. “I was leaning that direction, but I wasn’t totally sure. So I just took a while to think about it all. It’s a big decision. It affects not just me, it affects a lot of people.”