Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. Up next: NASCAR Cup Series points leader Martin Truex Jr., who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. The full version is available on the 12 Questions podcast.
1. You have to pick one chore or obligation to do every single day for a year. But if you make it the entire year doing this, you never have to do it again for the rest of your life. So what would you like to pick?
I’ll do the dishes after dinner. I don’t really mind. I don’t really hate it that much. I hate a mess. I hate clutter. So I’m totally fine emptying the sink of dishes. I hate the sink full of dishes.
2. Can you describe how you are as a passenger in a street car?
Terrible. I hate it. I don’t trust anybody to drive me. I don’t like it. If they’re, like, coming up behind somebody too fast, I’m reaching for the (imaginary) brake pedal. You know, I’m pretend-braking with my left foot. And it’s definitely not pleasant for the driver. (Laughs)
3. What is an app on your phone you love using and think that more people should know about?
I’m not a huge phone person. I don’t spend all the time on the phone. It annoys me when I’m hanging out with people and they’re on their phone all the time. I don’t really have any apps anyone else doesn’t have. Nothing out of the ordinary. I probably keep up with Instagram more than anything. And some days I won’t even go on there. So I would say nothing. Maybe a good weather app; I like to check weather for fishing.
4. What do you do to make yourself feel better when you’re having a crappy day?
Try to get on the water somewhere. Go fishing. That’s one of my favorite things to do, in general. It always makes a day better if you can get on the water, especially if it’s a good day of fishing. And drink a beer. You know, boat ride and drink a couple beers.
5. The next one is a Dear Abby-style question where I’ve asked readers to submit their life advice problems and I’m matching them up with a driver who might be able to have a good answer. You’ve gone through a similar situation like this over the last couple of years, so maybe you’d have advice for this person. They said: “After more than 10 years in my current field, I’m considering a career change. How will I know when my current job has run its course and it’s the right time to try something completely different?” What’s the thought process there that you could help this person with their decision? (Note: If you’d like to submit a question for a driver, you can do so here.)
Those are always tough ones. At the end of the day, if you’re not happy doing what you’re doing, you should probably figure something else out. I’ve always tried to live that way. Luckily for me, I’ve had an amazing job for over 20 years and I’ve enjoyed it. So yeah, life is too short to not do something you really love and you’re passionate about.
6. The next one is a debate ranking question. Rank these types of fishing from best to worst: saltwater fishing, lake fishing, bait fishing on a river or fly fishing. How do those stack up for you?
Saltwater first because there are so many options. There’s so many places in the world you could go. Endless opportunities in some really, really cool places.
Lake would be second because that’s my second favorite. I don’t do much fly fishing, but there’s some beautiful places to do that as well — especially out West. Get out in the middle of nowhere in the mountains.
And then the rivers would be last on my list. But some people love it. I’m not a huge fan of it, but I’ve done the least amount of that as well.
So you can fly fish? You know how to do it with the rhythm and all that?
Yeah. I’ve done a little bit of fly fishing on saltwater, which you can do as well.
Oh, really?
Some guys are crazy about it and it’s all they’ll do. I’ve done very little of it, but a lot of guys I know do it.
Is that wading off the shore or from a boat?
You can do both. A lot of people will do it off the boat for sure. Down in South Florida, a lot of guys are into catching tarpon on the fly, which you know, tarpon can get 150 pounds or so. Big fish, a lot of fun, jump a lot, get crazy. But guys catch them with the fly rod.
7. This next one is a wild-card question. I know you enjoy JGR and where you are now, but you and the 78 team at Furniture Row seems like such a special and unique time — not only in your history, but NASCAR. Five years removed from that, how do you view that entire experience and period for you?
It was definitely a one-of-a-kind experience slash team slash owner. Everything they did was different. Everything they did was out of the norm — being in Denver, single-car operation. (Former crew chief) Cole (Pearn) used to always joke it was like a band of misfits, a bunch of outcasts who for whatever reason left their teams, got run off, didn’t get along with people. We all kind of came together, and it was just a bunch of guys who love doing things their own way.
It was really, really neat to be a part of that. It was really unique, and to be able to have the success we had was the icing on the cake. Everyone was like, “Look at us out here doing this.” And that was a credit to all the team guys, of course, but it was really neat to see.
I can remember many times where they’d go to Barney (Visser, the team owner) and say, “Hey, we need this.” He’d say, “Is it going to make the car faster?” And they’d say yes. And he’d say, “OK. Go get it.” There were just a lot of things like that that happened. At the end of the day, that’s maybe part of why it’s not around anymore, because it was very expensive to do it the way they did it.
But man, it was really, really unique. It was something that had been done years and years ago, when the sport was smaller and there were a lot more small, single teams. But in the day and age they made it happen, it was just crazy to see.
A three-time race winner this season, new boat owner Martin Truex Jr. leads the Cup Series in points — and lobsters won. (Meg Oliphant / Getty Images)
8. In your career, what is the deal that came closest to happening that ended up not working out?
Maybe not going to Furniture Row. I wasn’t sure at the time how it was gonna go. It was one of two options, and it felt like the better one; obviously, it turned out to be a great thing. But you never know. And it basically made my career by doing it.
Wow. That’s one of those where you look back and it’s the split paths of life, you know?
Yeah, because if the Richmond thing (2013’s Spingate) hadn’t happened, I would have been at (Michael Waltrip Racing) for who knows how long? I felt good about where we were there. Things were going well, we had a great team, a lot of good people there. And it was really building into something we thought was going to be great.
So had Richmond not happened, Furniture Row probably would have never happened. It’s crazy how something so bad, you think it’s the end of your career, you think it’s the end of life, end of the road can turn into a great opportunity. So you just never know. You’ve always got to just believe and keep as hard as you can to be what you want to be and do what you want to do.
9. Who is someone you would be starstruck by when meeting them?
No one. I literally have never been starstruck. Maybe when I was a kid when I first saw Dale Earnhardt (Sr.) or some of the Cup drivers around the racetrack. But I wouldn’t be wanting to go up and ask for an autograph or a picture. I would just be like, “Wow, that’s really cool to see them.”
I’ve luckily gotten to meet a lot of famous people over the years, and I just feel like people are people. I’ve never really been a crazy fan of anything. I do enjoy a lot of things and I like meeting people, but I don’t get crazy about it.
10. What is the single most important skill a race car driver can possess?
Having a feel for the car has to be most important. To get the most out of it in every situation, that’s got to be No. 1.
I think the only other person who said feel this year is Kyle Busch. Others have said something related to that, but not feel specifically.
That’s the one thing you’ll learn and you take throughout your career. I don’t know that you can teach it. It’s just something you figure out over time and that makes you the driver you are.
There’s a lot of things you can study and look at and try to do, but the feel of the car and how to get the most out of it is basically what everything revolves around and (leads to) going fast and winning races.
11. What life lessons from a young age stick with you and affect your daily decisions as an adult?
Work ethic, from my dad making me work as a kid to buy a tire for my go-kart and not just handing me things. That goes through whatever you do. You’re willing to work hard, you can do anything you want. That’s just always been the way I’ve done it. I’ll do whatever it takes to get what I want.
What kind of stuff did you have to do to earn enough money?
I would do anything. One of the first jobs I ever got paid for — I was probably 7, 8, 9 years old — was with my cousin. They were doing some work on one of the really old clam boats to get it fixed up to go fishing again. It had sat around for years.
I don’t know if you’d ever seen the bilge of an old fishing boat, but the bilge is just basically the bottom of the hull inside. It’s like black sludge and we had to shovel it out. It’s summer down in this hole, no air moving, sweating to death, black all over us. And we didn’t care. They’re gonna pay us. So we just did it.
That was probably one of the first times I ever made money for doing something. It was terrible, but I got paid. I don’t even know what I did with the money, but that was one of the first things I ever got paid to do. Dirty job.
12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the next person. The last one was with Tyler Reddick and he caught on to your recent comments about the boat. So he wants to know: Have you picked out the boat yet that you want to buy? And have you bought it?
I have found one. I’m going to look at it (last) Monday. I sent him a down payment. So it’s close. If it’s what they say it is, I will own it (this) week. (Note: Truex said Saturday he has now purchased the boat.)
So you need to have eyes on it first.
Just need to make sure it is what they say it is, yeah. Go over it. Take a ride. I’m pretty excited about that.
I don’t know who the next interview is with yet. You can either give a generic question or when I know who it is, I can double back with you.
I’d like to know who it is. That’s always better.
GO DEEPER
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(Top photo: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images)
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