Martin Truex Jr. completes 600th start
Martin Truex Jr.’s sixth-place finish in the Enjoy Illinois 300 Sunday was the Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s 600th start in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Truex became the 32nd driver in NASCAR history to race in at least 600 points-awarding cup Series races.
In his 600 starts, Truex has amassed 19 poles, 31 wins, 131 Top-5 finishes, 255 Top-10 finishes, 10,893 laps led, and one championship.
Truex made his debut at Atlanta Motor Speedway in October 2004, driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc. He raced for the team through 2009, running for Rookie-of-the-Year honors in 2006. Truex earned one win for the team (Dover in June 2007).
Truex then drove for Michael Waltrip Racing from 2010 to 2013, earning one win with the team at Sonoma in June 2013.
After, Truex raced the No. 78 for Furniture Row Racing from 2014 to 2018, earning 17 race wins, making three Championship 4 appearances and winning the title in 2017.
Upon the team’s shutdown at the conclusion of the 2018 season, Truex signed with Joe Gibbs Racing, where he has won 12 races and finished runner-up in points twice (2019 and 2021).
HISTORY
In the 74-year history of NASCAR’s premier series, no driver has ever won in their 600th start.
The highest a driver has finished in their 600th start is third-place twice. Darrell Waltrip finished third at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March of 1994 and Jeff Gordon finished third at Chicagoland Speedway in July of 2010.
The first driver to make their 600th start was Buck Baker, who finished 16th at Hickory Speedway in April of 1968.
SOURCES
Racing-Reference.info
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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.