This will get lost in the holiday shuffle, but if you are reading this on your Friday, a day after filling yourself with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and a varieties of pies, welcome. You can hold off on Christmas shopping for a little bit longer. There are still 26 days until Christmas. No need to panic.
Holidays aside, the motorsports year is winding down, but it is about to pick up again shortly. A few championships are actually starting shortly. How about that? Either way, we have some cleaning up to do. It is a period of reflection more than anything else.
Martin Truex, Jr.
Plenty has been written about Martin Truex, Jr. in the last few months as Truex, Jr. announced 2024 would be his last full season in NASCAR Cup Series competition.
Truex, Jr.'s full-time career ends after 19 consecutive seasons of full-time competition in the Cup Series. He made 693 starts in his Cup career, 24th most all-time. He won 34 races, 27th all-time. Twice he won the Coca-Cola 600. He won the Southern 500. Truex, Jr. will be most remembered for his 2017 NASCAR Cup Series championship with Denver, Colorado-based Furniture Row Racing.
There is plenty more we could add. Two championships in NASCAR's second division. Three-time championship runner-up in Cup. A winner in all three national touring series. Truex, Jr. had an incredible career and that is despite the rough start to his Cup career.
His first career victory was on a Monday in his sophomore season. It was a late spring day in Dover, one of many home tracks for the New Jerseyan. A fitting spot for his first triumph, but the second would not come for a long time.
Caught in the turmoil of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. as Dale Earnhardt, Jr. left the team his father created for Hendrick Motorsports, Truex, Jr. lived through the downfall, and was a member when the team merged with Chip Ganassi Racing. After making the playoffs as a sophomore, he would only crack the top fifteen once in the next three years. He moved to Michael Waltrip Racing and Toyota, where results improved slightly.
There were two winless seasons at MWR. His winless streak hit six years in June 2013. It felt like Truex, Jr. was going to become a forgotten Cup driver, one who dominated the lower division but couldn't quite crack it in Cup. A man who would be lost to time. Then he won at Sonoma, 218 races after winning at Dover. At the time, the second-longest winless drought behind only Bill Elliott.
Only when it appeared things were turning around did it all circle the drain.
Truex, Jr. appeared set for another playoff appearance before race manipulation from Michael Waltrip Racing earned the team and Truex, Jr. a penalty. It cost more than a playoff spot as Napa Auto Parts left the team in the aftermath. Truex, Jr. lost his ride in the process for an action he did not commit.
It could have ended there, but the second half of Truex, Jr.'s career is a redemption story the likes we have never seen in NASCAR.
Furniture Row Racing provided him a landing spot. They went through the suck together in 2024 and then became a surprise championship contender in 2015. The team switched to Toyota in 2016 and was better, but stumbled when one engine failure at Talladega knocked him out of the playoffs. This incident led to another modification of the playoff system to provide insurance for consistent drivers. Playoff points came in handy in 2017, but Truex, Jr. didn't need it. He dominated the championship and won a championship that should have always been his.
He probably could have won another. He was one of the best in 2018, but lost it in the final race. He fell a spot short again in 2019 and again in 2021.
In another world, Truex, Jr.'s career ends in 2014. He spends the better part of the next five years bouncing around back-marker teams and his farewell goes unnoticed. He becomes a "remember that guy?" the likes of David Stremme or David Reutimann.
Despite all these twists against him, Truex, Jr. became one of the best drivers of the last decade. He wasn't brash. He wasn't brazen. Truex, Jr. was as gentlemen as they come in 2024, a time when drivers are unhinged nine times out of ten without a care for fellow competitors.
As much as others raced Truex, Jr. in a way they would not like to be raced, Truex, Jr. never strayed from his beliefs. Truex, Jr. never wrecked a driver to win a race. He never made a desperate move. Perhaps it cost him one championship, but the respect he earned from being himself will far outlive a second title.
It is remarkable all that Truex, Jr. accomplished considering the wandering he had to do in the first half of his career. He was not in a cozy home until he was at rock-bottom, and even then it would not last long. He succeeded in the most unlikely location. Not many other drivers could have replicated what he did with Furniture Row Racing. It is a success story that will live in NASCAR lore for quite sometime.
Truex, Jr. will be around. There is a plan he will run the Daytona 500 in February. How many races and how many more years he is around remains unknown. NASCAR in 2025 is not the NASCAR of 2005 where recently retired drivers would still stick around to run seven to ten races for seven to ten years. He may run a few more races, but it is not many more. Part of me wants to see him get to 700 starts. It is a milestone that does not mean much. His career is no lesser ending on 693 or 694 starts. It would be nice to see him join another esteemed club after he could have become one of many members of a less-celebrated establishment.
For all his success, Truex, Jr. never quite achieved the levels of adulation as some of his contemporaries. The reserved man likely doesn't mind, but he earned it, and his presence will be missed because there are many more Martin Truex, Jr.'s walking through that door, though we could definitely use a few.
Formula One: The Summer Onward
The inevitable happened in Formula One, and yet the 2024 season could not be ending on a better trajectory.
Max Verstappen clinched his fourth World Drivers' Championship, and Verstappen did it with races to spare. That was the predicted result from 99.9% of observers on January 1, 2024. However, nobody expected this season to be quite like this.
Verstappen was not in the best car and he had to fight for the title. He benefitted from the Red Bull being clear of the field over the first four months of the season, but the other teams caught and surpassed Red Bull. Verstappen had to do all he could to pull more out the car while living on the cushion established long before we got into summer. He ended up as champion, but with the way the tides are turning, we all know 2025 will not look like 2024 or 2023 or 2022.
A fifth title will require a fight, a 24-round brawl over nearly nine months. It will not be a walkover. There will be plenty of stout competition.
Even 2024 was plenty exciting considering the constructors' championship will either go to McLaren or Ferrari. Red Bull has a shot but with Verstappen being a one-man band as Sergio Pérez has fallen off significantly and has not had a top five finish since he was fourth in Miami, it is unlikely Red Bull will take the constructors' crown for a third consecutive season.
The truth about this season is other than Verstappen in the first ten races, nobody was dominant. McLaren has been the next most consistent, but it has its races where it is not even the second-best team. Ferrari has shined at times, but against does not have that consistency. Mercedes-AMG has been able to pounce on a few weekends but be off the mark in others.
This is the first season in Formula One history when seven different drivers have multiple victories. There are also 24 races. It is more likely to now than ever before, but it has been a long time since we have seen four teams this competitive. That will carry over to 2025.
Either they will all remain on the same level and we will see the season ebb and flow with different manufacturers going on hot streaks or one or two will stand out with the others have the occasional good day, steal a victory here or there, but still be clearly off the top. It is Formula One. One team could come out and blow the doors off the rest and we could see a lackluster season, but that does not feel likely.
Let’s consider what the points totals look like since the summer break ended:
Charles Leclerc - 142
Lando Norris - 141
Max Verstappen - 126
Oscar Piastri - 101
George Russell - 101
Carlos Sainz, Jr. - 97
Lewis Hamilton - 58
Sergio Pérez - 21
Pierre Gasly - 20
Esteban Ocon - 18
Fernando Alonso - 13
Nico Hülkenberg - 13
Kevin Magnussen - 9
Alexander Albon - 8
Yuki Tsunoda - 8
Franco Colapinto - 5
Liam Lawson - 4
Oliver Bearman - 1
If the last three months are a sign of what to expect in 2025, we should be pleased.
December Preview
This is an odd time for motorsports because there is not much to preview and what is left is a tad obscure.
This space will be used to acknowledge the Super GT championship, which ends on December 8 at Suzuka.
In each class, three entries are alive for the championship with 23 points on the table.
In GT500, the #36 TGR Team au TOM’S Toyota of Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita lead with 74 points, 18 points ahead of the #100 Stanley Team Kunimitsu Honda of Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino and 22 points clear of the #38 TGR Team KeePer CERUMO Toyota of Hiroaki Ishiura and Toshiki Oyu.
The #36 Toyota is the only one of the three title contenders to win a race this season. Tsuboi is attempting to become sixth driver to win the Super Formula and the Super GT GT500 championship in the same season. It would be the second consecutive year for it to happen after Ritomo Miyata did it, and Tsuboi and Miyata were co-drivers last year in Super GT.
GT300 has the #65 K2 R&D LEON Racing Mercedes-AMG of Naoya Gamou and Takuro Shinohara leading with 84 points with the #88 JLOC Lamborghini of Takashi Kogure and Yuma Motojima 11 points back. The #2 muta Racing INGING Toyota of Yuui Tsutsumi and Hibiki Taira is 20 points off the top.
The #65 K2 R&D LEON Racing Mercedes-AMG and the #88 JLOC Lamborghini have each won two races with JLOC entering the finale with two wins on the spin. The #2 Toyota won the season opener in Okayama.
Other events of note in December:
While it is a time of ends, this December is also a time for beginnings. The Formula E and Asian Le Mans Series seasons will each begin this month.
