Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
At the end of 2022, Martin Truex Jr was considering retiring from NASCAR. Fast forward to 2024, and the No.19 Toyota driver is running for a maiden win in the Daytona 500. Having claimed the Cup Series championship in 2017, there is little left to win for the 43-year-old in NASCAR apart from an elusive win at the Daytona International Speedway. However, his teammate and championship rival, Denny Hamlin, is a big rock in his path.
The No.11 driver is easily one of the favorites to win the 2024 Daytona 500. Being a 3-time winner of the Great American Race and coming off a win in Clash at the Coliseum, Denny Hamlin is the driver to watch out for. But, the quintessential characteristic of the Daytona 500 is that it produces many unexpected winners. In the past half-decade, we have seen Austin Dillon, Michael McDowell, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr win it. This takes us back to the question- could Martin Truex Jr finally end his winless streak at Daytona?
READ MORE:Martin Truex Jr. 2024 season in review
If we look at Truex Jr’s previous performances at the Daytona International Speedway, it is a shadow of the glorious Cup Series career he has carved. In 37 appearances at the DIS, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has recorded no wins, three top-5s and six top-10s. Having led only 144 laps, Martin Truex Jr has been empirically poor at Daytona.
Objectively, Daytona is Truex Jr’s third-worst racetrack with an average finish of 21.4. However, that would have been different if not for Denny Hamlin. In 2016, Martin Truex Jr earned his best result in the Daytona 500 with a P2 finish. And it was Hamlin who beat him to the checkered line by a photo frame finish where the #11 led the #19 Toyota by 0.010 seconds.
