Martin Truex Jr. completes 500th start of career
Martin Truex Jr. has now done something in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 41 other drivers have done.
Truex Jr. raced in his 500 points-awarding event in NASCAR’s elite series after winning Stage 1 and finishing fourth in the Consumers Energy 400 Sunday (August 11) at Michigan International Speedway.
Prior to Truex, Kyle Busch was the most recent driver to hit the 500-start mark with his sixth-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February of this season.
“Thanks to everyone back at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing), Toyota and TRD,” Truex said. “The Auto Owners Camry was a rocket ship today, just didn’t get to show it at the end.”
The first driver to ever reach 500 starts was Buck Baker in August of 1964 at Asheville-Weaverville Speedway, finishing fifth.
If Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer compete in each of the remaining 12 Cup Series races, they will make their 500th Cup Series start by the end of the season. Hamlin has 492 career starts and Bowyer 491.
SOURCES
Racing-Reference.info
Toyota Racing
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Dominic Aragon View All
Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.
From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book "All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story" with racer Geoff Bodine.
Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.
You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.