Hard Turn
A NASCAR BLOG BY Jeff Owens
Truex move to Michael Waltrip Racing makes sense
When word spread that Martin Truex Jr. was looking for a new ride for next season, most people, including myself, automatically assumed he would land with one of the sport’s top four or five Sprint Cup teams.
Most expected Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Richard Childress Racing or maybe even Stewart-Haas Racing to come calling, putting Truex in one of their cars next year.
Two years ago, after winning a race and making the Chase For The Sprint Cup, Truex was one of the sport’s up-and-coming drivers and a rising star.
He has failed to live up to those expectations the past two years, primarily because his teams - first at Dale Earnhardt Inc. and then at
Earnhardt Ganassi Racing - have struggled.
Most believed that Truex would become an instant winner again if he landed with one of those top teams.
So it came as somewhat of a shock when word spread that Truex was leaning toward signing with Michael Waltrip Racing, which he did on Tuesday.
My first reaction was, what?
Why would he go there? Why not hold out to see if he can’t do better, landing a ride with one of the top teams?
But, upon further review, and now that the deal is done, it seems like Truex might have made a good move.
First of all, it was becoming clearer and clearer that there probably wasn’t anywhere else for him to go, not with finding new sponsorship becoming more and more of a struggle and with little driver movement this year.
And if there was an opening on one of those top teams, he was probably going to wind up as the third or fourth driver on a star-studded roster.
At Gibbs, for instance, he would have definitely been behind Kyle Busch, probably Denny Hamlin and possibly even Joey Logano. And that’s if Gibbs creates a fourth team, which is no certainty at this point.
At Childress, he would have fallen in line behind Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick.
At Stewart-Haas, he would have been third in line behind Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman.
At Hendrick, there was simply nowhere for him to go, not for at least another year or two.
At MWR, Truex could be the top dog, or at least share top billing with David Reutimann.
MWR has also shown vast improvement this year, winning a race with Reutimann and challenging for a spot in the Chase for him. It is gradually becoming one of the sport’s second-tier teams with the potential of climbing even higher.
With Truex’s talent, MWR could have two winning, Chase-contending teams next year.
And Truex won’t have to worry about where he falls in the hierarchy on a star-studded team.
Jeff Owens
Jeff Owens has been covering NASCAR since 1991 and began covering the circuit full time in 1993. He has been with NASCAR Scene since 1998.
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Comments
4 responses to "Truex move to Michael Waltrip Racing makes sense". Post a Comment.
adlrnck495 said:
Jul 11, 2009 at 1:22 AM9900
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» Confirm Abuse Reportadlrnck495 said:
Jul 11, 2009 at 1:22 AM9900
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» Confirm Abuse Reportadlrnck495 said:
Jul 11, 2009 at 1:23 AM***)))))
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» Confirm Abuse ReportHateda88 said:
Jul 29, 2009 at 12:19 AMThey are a perfect match-LOSERS soon to be has beens.
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