Martin Truex Jr. will drive the No. 56 Bass Professional Retailers Toyota on the Daytona 500 on Sunday, and it’s the identical quantity as his household race workforce. Whereas chatting with reporters throughout Daytona 500 media day on Wednesday, Truex was requested if it was tougher to see the No. 56 on his automotive after the dying of his father, Martin Truex Sr.
“I don’t learn about tougher however in all probability means extra, in all probability hits residence for me and what it means to us and our household,” Truex stated, per Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports activities. “Lots of people are going to be excited to see it on the market.”
Martin Truex Jr. was additionally requested concerning the affect his father made on his profession. “Every part I’ve every part discovered was from him,” Truex defined. “He was my hero rising up and nonetheless is. He even made loads of issues occur for me. Taught me loads of issues with racing and actually the chance to get right here and be capable of do what I completed is all due to him and his sacrifices. Hopefully, we’ll go win this factor for him on Sunday.”
Extra on Martin Truex Jr. and No. 56
Martin Truex Sr. had No. 56 whereas competing in NASCAR in the course of the Nineties. His son drove the No. 56 Toyota when he was with Michael Waltrip Racing from 2010-2013 but in addition had a number of numbers in his profession together with his most up-to-date being No. 19 for Joe Gibbs Racing. Martin Truex Jr. is driving the No. 56 Toyota for Tricon Storage as he retired from full-time racing on the finish of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Collection season.
“Up to now it’s been enjoyable,” Truex stated this week when requested about his Daytona 500 expertise. “We’ve obtained a pleasant solid of characters on our automotive which were round a very long time. Bunch of actually good guys. Acquired [crew chief] Cole [Pearn] to come back again right down to do it, so it’s been loads of enjoyable and hopefully we are able to have evening tonight and evening tomorrow evening and have some enjoyable on Sunday.”
Truex has put collectively a Corridor of Famer profession as he gained the Cup Collection regular-season title twice and the Cup Collection title as soon as. In 2023, Truex was named one in all NASCAR’s 75 greatest drivers in its historical past. Nevertheless, he has not gained the Daytona 500 as his greatest end was second in 2016.
On3’s Nick Geddes contributed to this story.
