Kevin Harvick speculates on how long Joe Gibbs will allow Martin Truex Jr. controversy to go on

For the past few years, Martin Truex Jr. has contemplated retirement before ultimately returning to Joe Gibbs Racing for another season.

This year is no different, as the 43-year-old once again is faced with the decision of continuing to drive or call it a career. Joe Gibbs Racing has been patient with allowing Truex to take his time to come to the right decision for what he wants to do. In 2022, that decision came in July. Last year, Truex made that call in August.

Kevin Harvick wonders, however, if this may be the year JGR puts the pressure on Truex to make a decision earlier. Speaking on his “Happy Hour” podcast, the FOX Sports analyst said he’s curious how much longer Joe Gibbs is gonna allow Truex to go year-to-year on a decision before opting to go into a rebuild.

Hence, Kevin Harvick could not help observing this crucial factor in driving Kyle Busch’s winless streak. “Not having a lot of time in the race car to keep analyzing things and assessing things makes it difficult to be able to understand exactly where you need to go with the car…This week we qualified at 8:30 in the morning…there was a 13-minute session. That’s not a lot of time, and then you’re kind of guessing what the pace is gonna be because the race is gonna be in the sun not like in practice.”

Evidently, RCR’s No. 8 team needs to step up their game. This is essential to catch up with their competitors in an increasingly tough racing atmosphere.