Martin Truex Jr. has completed his journey as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver, but his story as a race car driver hasn’t concluded just yet. Everyone thought Truex Jr. would pack his bags and go off-grid hunting and fishing, but he made a surprise announcement. The veteran driver expressed his desire to run a partial schedule in the 2025 season, but he wasn’t sure which team would support his run next year.

Now, the former Joe Gibbs Racing driver has won pretty much everything there is to win in the NASCAR world. But there’s one big prize that has eluded him ever since he made his Cup Series debut in 2006, and that is the Daytona 500 trophy. So, now you know why MTJ is eager to return to racing and settle the unfinished business. Well, his teammate Denny Hamlin offered him a ride at 23XI Racing, but Truex Jr. wasn’t sold on the proposal.

Reacting to his links to 23XI, he said, “No, it’s not. I’m not sure, honestly. I was told (Joe Gibbs Racing) is doing it somehow, so we’ll see.” As it turns out, there’s a new update regarding MTJ’s Daytona 500 ride for 2025

The Daytona 500 is the biggest event in the NASCAR calendar year. It lures multiple open and non-chartered entries, which is why the race has a unique qualifying procedure with Duels. This year a total of 42 entries officially entered the Daytona 500 weekend, so it makes sense if a non-charted team backs Truex Jr.’s entry for next year.

MBM Motorsports is one of the open teams that fields cars for the marquee event, and going by their latest announcement, they are making extensive plans for 2025. “Our 20-race Cup schedule will start at Bowman Gray. The races we want to run are a combination of driver-based sponsors and MBM Motorsports… Daytona 500 has no driver or sponsor signed at this time. It appears there will be 10 cars for 4 sports.” Team owner Carl Long said on Facebook.

He also dropped a major hint regarding Martin Truex Jr.’s entry as he mentioned the list of potential 10 entries to fill up the final 4 spots on the grid. Long even mentioned the car numbers for 8 cars, but he wasn’t sure about MTJ and former Indy Car driver H. Castroneves. Yes, the former Team Penske driver is also expected to compete at the 2025 Daytona 500. So Truex Jr.’s entry for next year’s mega event at Daytona International Raceway is almost confirmed. However, whether his entry will be with JGR, 23XI Racing, or an open team remains to be seen.

Speaking of MTJ, this is perhaps the perfect time to reflect back on his final full-time run with the #19 JGR team. Despite the flashes of brilliance in the early going, the veteran driver just wasn’t able to have a dream run on his final lap as a competitive racer.

The 2024 NASCAR season was bittersweet for MTJ. He was able to celebrate his entire racing career with JGR but, at the same time, couldn’t register a win in his final attempt. The only race that comes to our mind where he was genuinely in contention to win the race is the sprint race at Richmond Raceway. Despite leading 228 laps, he finished fourth, courtesy of some sketchy tactics put to use by his teammate Denny Hamlin on the vital restart.

He had four top 5 finishes before heading into the playoffs, but pit road troubles and lack of execution mired his run in the knockouts. Without a win and relying strictly on points, his run ended in the very first round itself. The only positives from his playoff run were his back-to-back pole wins at Martinsville Speedway and at the season finale race in Phoenix. But, despite the head start, he wasn’t able to convert this into victories.

Well, a single season certainly doesn’t define MTJ’s racing career; he certainly has a lot to look back on. He won the Cup Series championship in 2017, scripting one of the biggest underdog stories with Furniture Row Racing. His 19-year tenure as a full-time driver has seen him collect 34 race wins, 147 top fives, and 25 pole positions. The only thing that he’s yet to achieve is a Daytona 500 trophy, and he has made his intention clear about chasing that elusive dream in coming years.