NASCAR: 3 Cup drivers Ty Gibbs could replace
By Asher Fair
Ty Gibbs replacement candidates: No. 2 – Martin Truex Jr.
Martin Truex Jr. was the subject of various retirement rumors before the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season began, and he responded by signing a contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing that kept him behind the wheel of the #19 Toyota through at least the 2022 season.
The 2022 season is Truex’s fourth with the team after the shutdown of the previously Joe Gibbs Racing-affiliated Furniture Row Racing.
The details of his contract were never formally disclosed, so naturally, there were more questions about the 42-year-old Mayetta, New Jersey native’s future as silly season progressed earlier this year.
Truex ended up shutting down the retirement rumors and announcing his decision to return to Joe Gibbs Racing for another year in 2023. Noting that it took him six months to make this decision, he said that he had nothing to announce about 2024 yet.
But the driver who entered the 2022 season with four top two championship finishes, including the 2017 title, in the last five seasons — and five seasons with at least four wins in the last six — ended up missing the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
While he finished the regular season in a respectable fourth place in the point standings, he didn’t finish a single race in the top three. If something similar happens next year, could he decide it’s time to hang it up?
With Joe Gibbs wanting Ty Gibbs to spend two years in the Xfinity Series first, it would make sense for him to replace Truex in 2024. But what happens if Truex isn’t ready to retire at that point?
It may make sense to move Gibbs to the Cup Series sooner, and that brings us to the option that has become by far the most likely.