Navigating 1.058-mile oval at New Hampshire Motor Speedway can be an unnerving experience with its four low banked turns, stingy straightaways and shifting seams in the paved lanes.
But those aspects of competing in a Cup Series race on the Magic Mile were not the source on Martin Truex Jr.’s angst with the track he’s travelled extensively since his youth in the K&N East Series and the Busch Series. Truex also watched his father, Martin Truex Sr., win the 1992 New Hampshire Lottery 125 in the NASCAR Grand National Race Series.
In his first 29 Cup Series runs at New Hampshire, Truex amassed a phenomenal record of success under the banners of Dale Earnhardt Inc., Michael Waltrip Racing, Furniture Row Racing, and currently with Joe Gibbs Racing.
In the seasons between his debut with an 18th-place finish on July 16, 2006, to his fourth-place showing on July 17, 2022, Truex recorded seven top-five finishes and 13 in the top-10, with countless laps led. Truex sat on the pole position twice and started the race on the front row for six times.
The only thing missing from Truex’s New Hampshire resume was the checkered flag and possession of the oversized lobster. That was the one aspect about the Magic Mile that truly got on Truex’s nerves.
“It absolutely got on my nerves,” Truex told the Herald. “It was getting very annoying to go up there and lead laps and win stages but not be able to take the lobster home.
“It’s not like we weren’t good there. We led a bunch of laps, we won a ton of stages there, and it’s like something always happened. We just never could finish the deal off.”
Truex put his NHMS hex to rest on July 16, 2023, when he fended off late challenges from Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski to claim his 34th Cup Series victory and first at New Hampshire.
Truex will look to defend his crown when he climbs inside the No. 19 Toyota Camry XSE for the running of the USA Today 301 on Sunday, June 23, at NHMS. Truex, who recently announced his retirement from Cup Series racing after the 2024 season, will make his final run on the Magic Mile.
“Yeah, it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to come back there as the defending winner,” said Truex. “It feels great, honestly, that was a huge, huge win for me in my life and my personal goals of places I wanted to win at.
“It was always high on the list because of what it means to my racing career and how long I’ve been going up to New Hampshire. It was huge, honestly, I mean, it’s no question one of my biggest wins of my career just because of what it meant to me personally, my family, just that area.
“So proud of that, and to be able to finally bring home that lobster trophy means a ton. Glad to get it checked off and now hopefully we can get a second one.”
Truex is in a good place after 16 races this season. He is fifth the driver standings with 508 driver points that he accumulated from four top-five finishes, seven in the top 10 with two stages wins going into the running of the Iowa Corn 350 on June 16 at Iowa Speedway.
Truex figured he had a good chance to get his first win and secure a spot in the playoffs going into in the Toyota/Save Way 350 at Sonoma Raceway on June 9.
Truex had been the dominant driver on the 2.52-mile California road course. Truex had won at Sonoma four times since 2013 and was the defending champion. But Truex’s driver rating took a hit when he finished 27th.
“It’s been alright but we probably should have won a race or two already and we’ve had a few heartbreakers as far as that goes,” said Truex. “It’s really been good and we’ve had a lot of speed and we’ve led a ton of laps.
“Overall, we’ve been right there knocking on the door and next couple of weeks we’ve got some great tracks coming up and hopefully get back to victory lane.”
Truex recent solid performances on the Cup Series’ short tracks are an indicator of good run at New Hampshire. Truex has a third at Dover, fourth at Richmond and second at Bristol. Truex finished seventh on March 10 at Phoenix Speedway, a 1.022-mile tri-oval that is laid out similar to New Hampshire.
“Phoenix and Loudon have a few similarities, especially turns one and two, I guess, compare closest to Loudon,” said Truex. “There are just so many unique challenges with Loudon that you end up, I feel like, always having a little bit different setup.
“The bumps are probably one of the biggest things. The bumps are really challenging. And then the transitions and the banking, things like that, the way the car works a little different.
“I think generally if you’re fast at Phoenix, there’s a good chance you’ll be fast at Loudon, but it takes a lot different approach, I feel like, in terms of car setup.”
