NASCAR: Martin Truex Jr. says ‘stay tuned’ for big news
By Asher Fair
After his first win of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, Martin Truex Jr. told us to “stay tuned” for big news, which ended up coming a few minutes later due to a previous social media leak.
With the NASCAR Cup Series set to return to the dirt for the first time in more than five decades in just under two weeks at Bristol Motor Speedway with the Food City Dirt Race on Sunday, March 28, many drivers are taking the opportunity to compete in other racing series on dirt to prepare for the event.
After securing his first win of the 2021 season to become the fifth winner through five races, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. was asked if he would be preparing for that 250-lap race around the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) high-banked oval in Bristol, Tennessee on dirt in some form.
“Probably,” he said. “I’m not sure where yet, though, or how, but probably. Stay tuned.”
Of course, he knew where and how, and we only had to stay tuned for a few minutes.
A few weeks ago, Auto-Owners Insurance made an Instagram post stating that Truex would be competing in the Truck Series race during the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt weekend, the night before the Cup Series event. Joe Gibbs Racing even liked the post, but it was then taken down.
Take a look.
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Asked about that post, Truex knew that he had been had.
“Damn! They spilled the beans?” he said, laughing. “Okay, yeah, we are. We’re going to run the Truck race. I’ll run Kyle’s truck. He said I could drive it for free, so I did it.”
So expect to see Truex behind the wheel of the #51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota on Saturday, March 27 in the Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt. The race is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET. “Stay tuned.”
The Cup Series race, the Food City Dirt Race, is scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 28, and it is set to be broadcast live from Bristol Motor Speedway beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on Fox.
The only other race on the schedule before then is the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, which is scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 21 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It is set to be broadcast live on Fox beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET.