Martin Truex, Jr.

Martin Truex Jr. won the 2017 Cup Series championship with eight victories in one of the most dominant single-season performances in modern NASCAR history. The Mayetta, New Jersey native overcame years of setbacks -- including the dissolution of Michael Waltrip Racing after a cheating scandal and the cancer battle fought by his partner Sherry Pollex -- to reach the pinnacle of the sport at Furniture Row Racing, a single-car team based in Denver, Colorado. Truex's championship was the ultimate underdog story. Furniture Row had no affiliation with a major multi-car operation, no technical alliance with a powerhouse, and operated thousands of miles from NASCAR's Charlotte hub. Yet Truex and crew chief Cole Pearn turned the No. 78 Toyota into the most feared car in the garage, dominating intermediate tracks with a combination of speed and strategy that the sport's best-funded teams could not match. His move to Joe Gibbs Racing produced continued success, and his consistency across the final years of his career cemented a legacy that began humbly in the Xfinity Series with two championships. Truex's story resonates because it proves that in NASCAR, persistence and belief can overcome any structural disadvantage. His journey from a fishing village in New Jersey to the Cup Series champion's stage is one of the most compelling narratives the sport has ever produced.

Written by Richard R. Glover, NASCAR Reference