Martin Truex Jr. closes out full-time NASCAR Cup Series career at Phoenix Raceway

AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Martin Truex Jr. got a nice surprise when his fellow drivers gave him a standing ovation during the prerace meeting Sunday before the NASCAR Cup Series finale.

Once on the track, the 44-year-old driver from New Jersey took time to thank his team for all the memories before his final race as a full-time Cup driver.

“Thanks for sticking out all the way to the end here,” Truex said on the radio, his voice breaking at the end. “Hopefully we can go out on top. Appreciate all your hard work and dedication with all the things we’ve done over the years. It’s meant a lot.”

Truex didn’t get his wish.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver led 10 laps after starting on the pole, but got caught in a shuffle of pit stops and cautions, costing him a chance to compete for one final win.

Truex finished 17th at Phoenix Raceway after all the hoopla — well behind winner Joey Logano — earning post-race handshakes and praise from Basketball Hall of Famer and 23XI Racing owner Michael Jordan, along with four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon.

Truex had a stellar career as a full-time driver, winning the 2017 Cup Series championship and 34 career victories in a NASCAR career that started in 2004. He also won two Xfinity Series championships.

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Truex is expected to race in next year’s Daytona 500 and has talked to team owner Joe Gibbs about running a few Xfinity races.

“It means a lot to have earned that respect over the years,” Truex said. “Going forward, do a little bit of racing just for fun and hopefully it’s not as stressful as today.”

Hamlin and FedEx

It appears Denny Hamlin’s 20-year run with FedEx as a sponsor is coming to an end.

Hamlin thanked FedEx in a social media post before Sunday’s race and the shipping company followed with one of its own.

“What a ride it’s been!,” FedEx posted on X. Denny and the entire Joe Gibbs team, it’s been an incredible 20 years of racing with the best. #TeamFedEx will always be cheering you on.”

FedEx has been a sponsor of Joe Gibbs Racing since 2005, but has pulled back in recent years. After sponsoring all of Hamlin’s car for all 36 races in 2020, FedEx was the primary sponsor in 14 points races this year.

Pace car crash

Ty Gibbs had the first official crash of Sunday’s race, climbing up into the outside wall on lap 2.

The second didn’t knock any of the competitors out, but it did delay the race.

Leading the field back to green after the first stage caution, the pace car driver caused chaos with a late decision to turn into pit road. The pace car cut across the front two cars, slid into the barrels protecting the end of the pit road wall and sent sand flying onto the track, leading to a red flag.

The mishap delayed the race for several minutes, but garnered a chuckle from Jordan in his 23XI Racing box on pit road.

The pace car suffered damage to the rear right side and had to be replaced by a backup car.

Odds and ends

Kyle Busch’s record of winning a Cup Series race in 19 straight seasons came down to one last race. Busch never really had a chance to extend his streak. He started 25th and had a hard time making up ground, finishing 21st in failing to win for the first time in his career in a Cup Series that included two championships. ... The Cup Series finale was a relatively clean race, with just two cautions caused by accidents. Ty Gibbs was among the few unlucky drivers, crashing hard into the wall on the second lap. “We’ve been really hard on the track there all week and I think I just caught it at a bad angle, and it just took off from me,” he said. “I had no control there. It was a really, really big hit though.” ... Carson Hocevar was named the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series rookie of the year after earning six top-10s and one top-five finish during his first full season in the No. 77 car. ... Chevrolet won the NASCAR Cup Series manufacturers championship.

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