Martin Truex, Jr. Raced His Way to the Elite Series

Each week I will be profiling a driver from the Sprint Cup, Nationwide, or Craftsman Truck series.

Martin Truex, Jr. was never just handed a race car at this sport's most challenging and difficult level. He earned it. With two championships in the Busch series (now Nationwide) and wins in NASCARS top two series.

Truex, born in Mayetta, New Jersey, began racing go-karts in 1991 under the direction of former driver and father Martin Sr. who was once a competitor in the National Division East series.

By 1998 he was racing modifieds, and in 1999 he was the Turkey Derby Classic Champion. It wasn't until 2004 that he got his first shot in NASCAR's top two series.

In 2004 he was driving for NASCAR's most recognized team, DEI, at the Cup level. He participated in Atlanta and the year's final race, Homestead, where he came home 32nd and finished the year 70th in points.

In the Nationwide series (formally Busch) he excelled. Between 2004 and 2005 Martin won 12 times, dominating the series with 17 top fives and 26 top 10s in 2004. In 2005 he had 15 top fives and 22 top 10s. In the process, he won back-to-back championships for DEI.

In 2005 Truex returned back to Cup racing and competed in seven races and finished a career best seventh at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Still, he finished 47th in the series that year.

2006 was his first full-time year in the Cup series and he had two top fives and five top 10s, finishing the year 19th in points. This was still not where he wanted to be, or expected to be.

2007 was his breakout year, with seven top fives and 14 top 10s. He earned his first career win at Dover and his first career pole at Texas Motor Speedway in the fall race. He made the Chase and finished a strong 11th in the series.

2008 however has been a struggle. DEI performance-wise has not been as strong as Rousch, Hendrick, and Gibbs. With Dale Jr. leaving his father's company to go drive for Rick Hendrick, Truex has become the face of the organization.

He currently sits 17th in points with 10 races to go until the "playoffs" begin, with an average starting position of 19th and a average finish this year of 18th. It's been a struggle to keep his car in contention for the Chase and for the win.

This year his contract is up at DEI—they carry the option for 2009. Many expect them to try and re-sign him at DEI, with rumors of Mark Martin heading to Hendrick to replace the now released Casey Mears.

They need Martin Truex, Jr. to do what Dale Jr. was expected to do: carry this team and organization and win championships.

With this weekend's race at Loudon, Truex has steadily improved in the last two years. In 2006 he qualified well but finished poorly. In 2007 he finished fifth and third respectively, after strong qualifying runs. Expect him to be a factor this weekend.

Truex has a lot of talent, he just needs the equipment. He is a contender and with better cars and better support behind him he can carry Dale Sr.'s organization to the one place his son couldn't—winning championships.

Stats were gathered from the following websites:

www.nascar.com

www.foxsports.com

www.espn.com

For information on Martin's foundation and ways to donate:

www.martintruexjrfoundation.org