You’ll pardon me for thinking that, at least for a while, that Martin Truex, Jr. wasn’t the same following the suspiciously sudden departure of former crew chief, Cole Pearn.
This is not a knock against Truex, for whom I’ve been a fan of since his days at Michael Waltrip Racing (and let’s not kid ourselves, I would have been a big fan of him while driving for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. if I had been a bigger fan of NASCAR back then). On and off the race track, Truex is one of those guys you find it easy to cheer for, especially since there have been instances where a lesser driver and a lesser person might have decided “enough was enough.” Instead, Truex persevered and found the right situation at the right time and went from a likeable also-ran to champion.
This is also not a knock against James Small, in his sophomore year as the Crew Chief of the #19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Turns out, he worked with Pearn at Richard Childress Racing (yes, the same team that Earnhardt used to race for) and his rise from engineer to crew chief largely mirrored the path that Pearn took from RCR to Furniture Row to JGR.
But the Truex-Pearn combination seemed to have that magical element. Put Pearn with another driver and the success might not have been there, and there is certainly a valid argument that Truex could not find the same success with other crew chiefs. Ah yes, the combination of Truex-Pearn seemed to be NASCAR’s equivalent of Manzarek- Morrison or even the next Johnson-Knaus. The main difference being that there was never a call to the hauler to have a “milk-and-cookies” discussion between Truex and Pearn.
Sadly, the partnership between the New Jersey driver and the Canadian crew chief would last only five years, 179 races, 24 wins and one championship. And then, in a turn of events that no one (save Cole Pearn) could possibly see coming, the duo was to be no more. Pearn left NASCAR in favour of running a ski resort in Western Canada.
If that’s what Pearn saw as his future, more power to him, but where did that leave Truex? Only two of his 26 career Cup wins (at that point) came without Cole Pearn calling the shots. Could he continue to have the same success with James Small (or any one for that matter) as crew chief?
In the crazy world that was NASCAR in 2020, the initial answer was “to a degree.” He won the Spring race at Martinsville to lock himself into the playoffs once again. He finished up the season with 14 Top 5s and 23 Top 10s, only one less than 2019 in both categories. But Truex just didn’t seem as dominant as he once was. While his Top 5s and Top 10s were similar, the Martinsville win was his sole victory of 2020, compared to 7 the previous year.
There’s a saying in NASCAR “What have you done for me lately?” The previous five years (2015-2019) had raised Truex’s profile so that people expected him to not just win but win multiple times in a season. A single win just wasn’t up to the standards that Truex had set.
And so, one might be pardoned if they looked at 2021 as the year Truex (and Small) had to prove that the success of the #19 team had not completely hinged on having Cole Pearn as crew chief.
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Season is only 8 races in but Martin Truex, Jr. has gone to Victory Lane. He joined what seemed to be an ever-growing list of winners with a win at Phoenix and then became the first multi-time winner with this past week’s repeat win of the Spring Martinsville win.
While Truex’s time in Daytona might not have been the best sign of better results to come, having finished 25th in the Daytona 500 and 12th at the Road Course, his results since then have been encouraging with five top 10s in six races. Even the race in which he failed to make the Top 10 (19th at the Bristol Dirt Race), he led nearly half the race (126 of 253 laps). That success, including two wins, has him second in the rankings after eight races.
There are 28 more races to go in the 2021 NASCAR Season. A lot of time for things to go very right or very wrong for this new combination of Truex/Small. And, if we’re being truly honest with the situation, even two wins for Martin Truex, Jr. would have to be dubbed a disappointment.
However, for now, Small seems to be leading Truex in the right direction. In a season where there’s been much discussion about parity, new tracks and several surprise winners, being the first team to snag multiple wins has set the #19 team on the right track towards another strong run at the Cup championship.
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