Truex talks contract, offers health update on girlfriend Sherry Pollex
Three days removed from his hugely emotional and wildly popular victory at Pocono Raceway, Martin Truex Jr. was still basking in the afterglow of the triumph that not only was his first in nearly two years but also guaranteed him a berth in the 2015 Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Speaking on a national teleconference with reporters on Wednesday morning, the driver expressed an interest in reaching a long-term agreement with the Furniture Row Racing organization he joined in 2014 on a two-year deal.
"I would like to, honestly," Truex said. "We haven't really talked about it. You know, with the team that we're building, that we've built, I feel like this is the kind of situation that I've really looked for my whole career. You know, the guys have done such a great job and they're so good at what they're doing, and we have such a great group. You know, I feel like this team is special."
"You look over the years at Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson and the team that they built, and what (Jeff) Gordon did with (Ray) Evernham back in the day," Truex said. "This team has that feel of it's just special, and they're doing special things. They're making, they're building great race cars, they're making good decisions, they're making it really easy for me to do my job. Honestly, it's so relaxed and so much fun that, yeah, I mean, I really want to do everything I can to keep this group together, because I think there's so much more we can do."
"I've been so happy with everything this year," Truex said. "If you would have asked me that last year, I guess maybe I would be a little bit more indecisive, but honestly, the way this year has gone, the group we have, it's really felt that way from the start, really as soon as we started the year ... everything just seemed to go so seamlessly. It's almost like we started working together, Cole and I, and it was like we had done it for years. You know, he's obviously a guy that you're going to hear about around here for a long, long time."
Although he is clearly interested in staying with Furniture Row, Truex indicated he hasn't yet entered into really serious talks with the Denver, Colorado-based organization about 2016 and beyond.
"I'm really comfortable, really happy with where I'm at," the New Jersey native said. "I think the team feels the same way, so it's not like we're really focused on it or worried about it. I think it's something we both kind of know in the back of our minds that, yeah, we'll get to it when we need to, but for now let's just focus on what we're doing and keep this thing going the way it's going."
"She's doing great," Truex said of his girlfriend, who sent a tweet from Victory Lane Sunday revealing that he had undergone a chemo treatment just a few days earlier. "She's still on her once-a-month chemo for just a maintenance for a year, so she'll be on that until February, but she's feeling great. She's doing awesome, and really, really, honestly, back to her normal life that she had before the cancer.
"Again, just pray that she stays clear for a long time and can get it kind of out of her mind that she can stop worrying about it, I guess, and just move on with her life. It's been good, and just glad that she's feeling good and is back to normal and back to doing the things she loves to do, and it's been great."
