Martin Truex Jr. close to MWR contract extension
Martin Truex Jr. will have his future secured at MWR in the near future (Getty Images Photo)
Michael Waltrip Racing is expected to announce a contract extension with
"I think we'll announce it soon," said Truex Jr. on "Tuesday while participating in the 2013 Sprint Cup car Goodyear tire test at Martinsville. We're really close -- there's no secrets to hide. We're just finishing up the details."
Truex, who has had a strong first 21 races of the season and finds himself in fifth place in the point standings, said he had not entertained leaving MWR.
"I really never talked to anybody else or even really thought about going anywhere else," he said. "It's just one of those things where we were concentrating on racing, concentrating on putting all the pieces of the deal together during the week when we're not racing. Really, it's come together nicely. We're very close and we're excited about the future together."
The improvement at MWR has been one of the season's success stories. In addition to Truex Jr., teammates Clint Bowyer and Mark Martin - with Brian Vickers also filling in for selected races - have both enjoyed solid performances this season.
"It's tough to point out one thing that we've done better this year -- there's so many things that we've done different as a team," said Truex Jr. "Feel like just being together -- this is my third year at Michael Waltrip Racing and we've come a long way. We've changed the way we do a lot of things. We've brought in a lot of new people over the past year and a half. There are just so many things that we're doing better right now than we did in the past and that's the reason you see we're fifth in points and got two cars in the top-10 this year."
Truex Jr. is looking forward to having the chance to represents MWR in the upcoming Chase, which would mark a first for the organization.
"This will be the first year, if we can finish the deal -- that Michael Waltrip Racing has ever even had a car in the Chase," said Truex Jr. "It's really every single area of the race team has been better. Everybody's smarter, our cars are just faster and they're built better. They're faster and easier to drive -- durability is better. Every single part of what Michael Waltrip Racing does is better today than it was at this time last year. With the 2013 car, I expect a lot of it to stay the same.
"Toyota Racing has been a big reason for our turnaround -- a big help in the turnaround of the race team and the performance of the race cars on the track. With them putting a lot of effort and a lot of energy into this new car, I expect that we will come out of the box running just as strong as we are right now."
