NASCAR: Martin Truex Jr. would end a 62-year drought with title
By Asher Fair
Martin Truex Jr. has the chance to end a 62-year drought across NASCAR, IndyCar and Formula 1 if he wins this year’s Cup Series championship.
It’s a small tidbit that ultimately doesn’t mean anything significant considering the fact that all Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. is worried about this Sunday afternoon at Homestead-Miami Speedway will be winning the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series championship, just like teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick.
Nevertheless, the 39-year-old Mayetta, New Jersey native has a chance to end a drought that began 62 years ago across NASCAR, IndyCar and Formula 1 if he does end up on top of teammates Hamlin, Busch and Harvick in the Ford EcoBoost 400.
Should the 2017 champion emerge as the 2019 champion as well following this 267-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Homestead-Miami Speedway oval in Homestead, Florida, he would join IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden and Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton as this year’s champions in the three most popular racing series in the United States.
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Newgarden is now a two-time IndyCar champion, as he also won the championship in 2017. Hamilton is now a six-time Formula 1 champion, as he also won the championships in 2008, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018.
So if Truex is crowned Cup Series champion in a few days, this year’s champions would match 2017’s champions.
Throughout the history of all three of these series, there has only been one occasion that has resulted in the same three champions in multiple seasons.
It hasn’t happened since the 1956 and 1957 seasons. Jimmy Bryan, who ended up as a three-time IndyCar (AAA Championship Car) champion, won the championships in both seasons. Buck Baker, who ended up as a two-time NASCAR Cup Series (Grand National Series) champion, won the championships in both seasons. Finally, Juan Manuel Fangio, who ended up as a five-time Formula 1 champion, won the championships in both seasons.
Of course, it wouldn’t be consecutive seasons this time around if Truex were to pull it off, but this set of three champions would be just the first since 1957 and the second ever to win championships in the same seasons multiple times.
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Will Martin Truex Jr. end this unique drought this Sunday, November 17 by winning what would be his second NASCAR Cup Series championship? NBC is set to broadcast the season finale, the Ford EcoBoost 400, live from Homestead-Miami Speedway beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET.