Martin Truex Jr.

Truex started his first career Cup race for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) in the No. 1 at Atlanta Motor Speedway later that year, qualifying 33rd and finishing 37th.

Martin Lee Truex Jr. (born June 29, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver.

He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing.

His uncle Barney competed part-time in the Whelen Modified Tour in the 1980s.

His cousins, Curtis Truex Jr. and Tyler Truex, are late model racing drivers.

The son of racer Martin Truex Sr.., Martin Jr. began his racing career driving go-karts at the New Egypt Speedway, located in Ocean County, New Jersey when it was still a paved track (the track was later switched to dirt).

His father Martin Sr. competed full-time in the East Series in the 1990s.

Truex Jr. would make his move to the Modified division at Wall Stadium in 1998, as soon as he was old enough to race a car at the age of 18 (under New Jersey regulations).

In 2000, Truex moved south and rented a home from Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Mooresville, North Carolina, eventually purchasing his own home there.

Following in his father's footsteps, he began racing in the Busch North Series.

He ran three full seasons (2000 to 2002) and made limited starts in 2003.

Truex claimed 13 poles and 5 wins driving his family-owned No. 56 SeaWatch Chevy.

Truex made his first Busch Series start in 2001 at Dover International Speedway in his father's No. 56 Chevy.

In 2002, Truex drove one race for Phoenix Racing at New Hampshire International Speedway, starting 13th and finishing 29th.

In 2003, he began the season with his father's team, before he was hired by Dale Earnhardt Jr. to drive his No. 81 Chance 2 Motorsports Chevy.

Truex raced full-time for Chance 2 in 2004.

At Bristol Motor Speedway, he would earn his first career victory, and he would later add three more victories over the next seven races.

This would include a victory at Talladega Superspeedway which broke his car owner's streak of winning restrictor plate races in the Busch Series, and a victory at the final NASCAR event held at Nazareth Speedway.

He took the lead in the championship after Nazareth but lost it to rookie Kyle Busch a few races later.

However, a series of top-five and top-ten finishes in the second half of the season allowed Truex to pull away from Busch, clinching the Busch Series championship with a race to spare.

While on his way to that championship, Truex made an appearance in the Nextel Cup Series as a relief driver to Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had suffered burns in a sports car accident.

Truex stayed in the Busch Series to defend his championship in 2005, winning the title for the second season in a row.

He won the first Busch Series points race held outside the United States, in Mexico, as well as defending his wins at Talladega and Dover International Speedway.

He took his first Daytona International Speedway win on July 1, 2005.

In 2006, Truex moved to the No. 1 DEI Chevy full-time in the Nextel Cup Series.

Truex got his first win of the 2007 season in the NASCAR Nextel All-Star Open, securing a spot in the 2007 Nextel All-Star Challenge, where he finished tenth.

A few weeks later, he won the Autism Speaks 400, scoring his first Sprint Cup Series win with an interval of seven seconds between pole-sitter Ryan Newman and himself, even though he led over half of the race—219 of the 400 laps.

He did not go to victory lane in 2008, but he did have 11 Top 10's and finished 15th in the final points standings.

He made his debut with Chance 2 at Richmond International Raceway, where he qualified sixth and led 11 laps before transmission failure forced him to a 31st-place finish.

He split time between Chance 2 and his father's team for the balance of the season, except at Dover, where he drove for Stanton Barrett.

He had a sixth-place run at Bristol Motor Speedway, and ended the season with two consecutive second-place finishes.

He ran a total of ten races that season.

This victory led to a jump in overall points advancing him to 13th, followed by a 3rd-place finish at Pocono Raceway and a second-place finish at Michigan.

With a 15th-place finish in the Chevy Rock and Roll 400, Truex clinched a spot in his first Chase for the Sprint Cup and finished 11th in points at season's end.

He is the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion and a two-time Xfinity Series champion, having won two consecutive championships in 2004 and 2005.

Many members of Truex Jr.'s family are current or retired NASCAR drivers.

His younger brother Ryan competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for JGR, and is a two-time consecutive champion in what is now known as the ARCA Menards Series East.

He ran three races the rest of that season for his father, his best finish 17th at Dover.

He started 19th but finished 38th after an early wreck.

He had two Top 5 finishes and finished 19th in points.