Truex makes his mark in NASCAR

DOVER, Del. – Whether hanging out in the garage or on his bass boat, Martin Truex Jr.’s buddies are always fishing for the inside scoop.

What team will free-agent teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. drive for next season?

“It’s annoying,” Truex said. “I’m like, ‘Dude, I have no idea. Leave me alone. Let’s fish or something.’ But everyone’s like, ‘C’mon, man, you know you know.’ “

Truex swears he has no clue – and if does, he’s not spilling.

Here’s what Truex does know. As much as he hates losing his friend to the competition, the defection all but guarantees Truex will become DEI’s top driver. The No. 1 will be more than the digit on his Chevrolet – it will be his spot on the team.

“It’s going to change a little bit. It’s going to be a little different for me,” Truex said. “As far as what I do on the racetrack, it’s not going to change at all.”

That’s great news for Truex if he keeps finding his way back to Victory Lane like he did Monday at Dover International Speedway, site of his first win in 58 career Nextel Cup points races.

Truex has the win that Junior hasn’t brought home in more than a year and solidified himself as a championship contender. The closest Earnhardt has come to Victory Lane this season was when he popped in to congratulate Truex after winning the 400-mile race on the concrete track.

Truex also is closing in on a spot in the Chase for the championship; he’s eight points behind Mark Martin, who’s 12th and running a part-time schedule this season.

The win and Truex’s gains in the point standings also showed the swirling speculation at DEI has not affected the laid-back Truex.

“None. Absolutely,” Truex said. “We do our own thing every week.”

Truex has been building to this win all season and had some momentum entering Dover after a string of solid finishes. He has three other top 10s, and two weeks ago, Truex won the Nextel Open at Charlotte to earn a spot in NASCAR’s All-Star race.

“I think we are at the point now where we feel we can run in the top 10 every week,” said crew chief Kevin Manion.

For Truex, the Mayetta, N.J., native who considers Dover his home track, the win in his second Cup season was long overdue.

“I can count so many times where things didn’t go our way or went bad for us that we could really be up there in the standings,” he said.

More strong finishes only will raise Truex’s profile. One lesson he learned from Earnhardt, long NASCAR’s most popular driver, is how to position himself as a popular pitchman.

Now, Truex the driver wants to become Truex the brand name.

“In some ways I think it will open some new doors for me as far as becoming more involved with sponsors and making my name bigger,” he said. “I kind of just want to come up with a marketing strategy for me and try to get more popular, I guess.”

“But I put more effort into being successful on the track before any of that. That’s the main thing right now.”

Three days before he won, Truex sat in his hauler trying to put into words what it would mean to finally win a Cup race. Truex had not seen his Busch Series success – consecutive championships in 2004 and 2005 – carry over, and he was anxious for his first win.

“Once you know you can get over that wall and you know how to do it, then you don’t worry about it as much because you know you’ve done it,” he said.

Now Truex can worry a little less about winning and a little more about making that first Chase.