NASCAR: 5 highest paid Cup Series drivers of 2022
By Asher Fair
Highest paid NASCAR drivers: No. 4 – Martin Truex Jr.
The early years of Martin Truex Jr.’s NASCAR Cup Series career didn’t result in many victories, but over the last few seasons, few drivers have been better.
In his first 10 seasons as a full-time driver, Truex won three races. In the six seasons that followed, he won at least four races on five occasions, and on four of those five occasions, he finished in the top two in the championship standings, including in 2017 when he won the championship in the fourth of his five seasons with Furniture Row Racing.
When Furniture Row Racing shut down, Truex joined Joe Gibbs Racing ahead of the 2019 season and immediately led the series with seven wins before watching a bid for a second championship unfortunately be derailed by a pit stop during which his team mixed up left and right tires.
He endured a challenging 2020 season when he won just one race, though after returning to the Championship 4 with four wins in 2021, he went winless in 2022 and didn’t make it into the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
Beyond 2023, Truex isn’t yet sure what his future holds, and he has been clear in the past that he doesn’t need to do what he does and that the reason he continues coming back is because he enjoys it and feels he is competitive.
Regardless of whether or not he returns to the No. 19 Toyota in 2024, Truex has proven himself as one of the best drivers in the series with one of the more pronounced career resurgences in recent history.
Martin Truex Jr. salary: $10,400,000