NASCAR: 10 future Hall of Famers among 2020 drivers
By Asher Fair
Future NASCAR Hall of Famers: #8 – Martin Truex Jr.
A few years ago, Martin Truex Jr. as a future Hall of Famer would have seemed as far-fetched as the scenario I described in Denny Hamlin’s slide about the 30th place driver winning the championship over a driver who wins the first 35 races.
But now, it is all but a lock.
Truex entered the 2016 season with three victories to his name in 10 full seasons of competition. His fourth place finish in the championship standings from the year before was his first ever top 10 finish after he finished in 18th place or worse in five of his first nine seasons.
Since the 2016 season began, there is a case to be made that Truex has been the best driver in the sport.
For two years in a row, he more than doubled his career win total, winning four races in 2016 to raise his total to seven and then winning eight in 2017 to raise it to 15. In 2017, he secured his first championship as well, and only once has he finished lower than second place in the championship standings since then. He now has 27 career wins to his name.
Only one driver ahead of Truex on the all-time wins list is not either a Hall of Famer or an active driver, and Truex trails him by just one win. That one driver, Carl Edwards, who actually drove the #19 Toyota that Truex now drives, could very well end up in the Hall of Fame eventually anyway, and he never even won a championship like Truex has.