Martin Truex Jr. Optimistic To Sign Long-Term Deal With DEI
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Jun 03, 2008
The Stafford Township, N.J., native says he wants to sign a long-term deal with Dale Earnhardt Inc.
“We’re just working on some stuff,” he said of the negotiations.
DEI had picked up Truex’s option for the 2009 season. However, there have since been other reports stating that deal was not yet complete and that Truex remains a possible free agent.
DEI president of global operations Max Siegel has said signing Truex long-term is a priority.
Truex declined to talk in detail about his contract status but said it has been difficult dealing with the issue on top of the pressure of being one of the Sprint Cup series’ top drivers - last year, he qualified for the 12-driver Chase for the Championship for the first time, and this year he became DEI’s top driver when Dale Earnhardt Jr. left as a free agent for Hendrick Motorsports.
“It’s a pain,” Truex said. “It’s a big pain. That’s why I try not to talk about it. We’ll see what happens. We’ll get it done, and when it’s done, everybody will know.”
Truex’s DEI teammate, veteran Mark Martin, had nothing but good things to say about him.
Despite the fact that Martin, 49, is 22 years Truex’s elder, he doesn’t feel the need to offer advice to the younger driver.
“He’s a really fine young man, and a mature racecar driver,” Martin said. “Once in awhile, he might ask me a question about a racetrack or about a car or something like that, but
Martin’s well beyond the mentoring phase.”
Martin has also noticed his teammate’s run of tough luck since winning here last June.
“If you haven’t seen that (Truex) has been fast everywhere this year, you haven’t been looking,” Martin said of the bad breaks that have prevented Truex from having many top-10 finishes.
Still, after battling his way to a sixth-place finish in Best Buy 400 benefiting Student Clubs for Autism Speaks, Truex wasn’t too disappointed with his performance at what he calls his “home track.”
“In practice [on Saturday], we honestly thought we had one of the cars to beat. We were really, really good,” Truex said. “At the start of the race, we were really loose all day until we finally moved the track bar on a pit stop and it came alive.
“We had something going then, but didn’t have enough time.”
Truex started the race in 20th place and rallied into the top 10 over the final 150 laps.
“A couple more adjustments and we would have been right there,” Truex said. “We were having a really good time there at the end.
“We just missed it by that much, and once we fixed it on that pit stop, it was like a different car and we ended up doing what we normally do. It’s a little frustrating, but overall a great day. We needed the points.”
