What appeared to be a jaw-dropping detachment has turned out to be a ruse. Martin Truex Jr. retired at the end of the 2024 season with a heavy heart. He had played around with his retirement plans for over two years, finally executing a mic drop exit by finishing 10th in last year’s Cup Series standings. He teased returning to racing in 2025 and even ran Daytona.

So, a recent social media update left fans flabbergasted. Martin Truex Jr. has indeed retired, but letting go of his most precious NASCAR memorabilia seemed uncanny. And now, the real truth has finally been revealed as the 2017 Cup Series champion spoke out.

Martin Truex Jr. smashes the confusion

A NASCAR fan recently set off a buzz in the community, posting a number of items for sale on Race Day Authentics. These included Martin Truex Jr.’s highest achievements – like the trophy and flag from his final career win at New Hampshire in 2023, his NASCAR 50 Greatest Drivers shirt and watch, and even his 2023 regular-season championship trophy. A wave of earth-shattering responses hit social media, as fans could not believe this was happening. Retiring from the sport is one thing, but parting with one’s hard-earned trophies? Guess what, Truex is on the same page of disbelief as those fans.

In a recently posted Instagram story, the former Joe Gibbs Racing veteran revealed the truth. Martin Truex Jr. wrote, “It’s been brought to my attention some of my trophies were for sale online. These items were sold without my knowledge. Every one of these items holds a special significance to me.” Talk about getting trapped in a world plagued with cyber hacking and AI-generated deepfakes!

This Instagram story shattered all the notions swirling around Martin Truex Jr.’s rumored sale. Media agencies racked their brains about the veteran grappling with the death of his late girlfriend, Sherry Pollex, who passed away in 2023 due to ovarian cancer. Then, in early 2025, he also lost his father, Martin Truex Sr. What is more, people also justified his sale, terming it a follow-up to his listing of a $7.5 million Lake Norman mansion. The 14,000-square-foot European-style manor is in Mooresville, North Carolina – the heart of NASCAR racing.

Evidently, Martin Truex Jr. was not detaching himself from the sport after all. Meanwhile, his former team is undergoing a major debacle, to the detriment of their title aspirations.

The raging fires are warming another team

While Martin Truex has been away, significant changes have happened at JGR. The team recruited Chase Briscoe to wheel the No. 19 Toyota, and all three JGR playoff contenders swept the Round of 16. However, the changes also involve a brewing storm within the team. In last Sunday’s race at New Hampshire, Denny Hamlin got aggressive with Ty Gibbs after the latter refused to give room to his teammates. What is more, these two JGR drivers are conducting a cold war on social media. Hamlin bashed the leadership for not stepping in and teaching Gibbs a lesson. Gibbs fanned the flames with a single finger emoji.

And Team Penske can take advantage of these raging fires. Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano were the spotlight at New Hampshire, and look to topple JGR’s stronghold. ‘The Magic Mile’ is a one-mile track, similar to Phoenix Raceway, the championship venue. So Denny Hamlin fears the worst. He urged JGR to get a grip: “If we re-racked and ran tomorrow, we would have the same result. It’ll take an extensive overhauling of philosophy to get another two percent of grip out of our cars. We’re not going to be able to tweak our way to the speed that the Penske cars had. If they carry that moving forward, we’re not going to be able to — we will not overcome that, if it correlates to Phoenix.”

JGR clearly has its own drama going on, while Martin Truex Jr. deals with his own. Let’s see if the veteran can catch the culprit of his unauthorized sales soon.