It’s money week for No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. He raised $60,000 for charity Wednesday night and now plans on taking $1 million for himself Saturday at NASCAR’s Sprint All-Star race.
The Michael Waltrip Racing driver’s foundation held its fourth annual Catwalk for a Cause presented by Toyota on Wednesday at MWR. The fashion show sold out with more than 450 in attendance including several drivers and NASCAR celebrities. All of the monies raised benefit the Martin Truex Jr. Special Needs Fund at Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte. Fans can still get involved by making a donation:www.martintruexjrfoundation.org.
“The event turned out amazing,” said Truex. “The sheer size of it, the amount of people and the buzz around the event were a huge part of this year’s success.
“This year so many things happened that I did not expect. The support of all the sponsorships has grown tremendously. The amount of people who bought tickets and the size of the waiting list were huge. There are so many things that have happened that when we started this four years ago, I never imagined it would grow to this size and magnitude. I am so thankful to so many people.
Our goal next year is simple … make it even bigger and better.
Truex now turns his attention to Saturday’s Sprint Showdown and All-Star race. He’ll be one of the favorites in the 40-lap Sprint Showdown where the top two finishers transfer to the All-Star Race. Truex won the showdown in 2007 and 2010.
The All-Star race consists of 90 total laps; four 20-lap segments followed by a mandatory four-tire pit stop and a 10-lap sprint to the $1 million big-money finish. If one driver wins all four 20-lap segments and bests the field in the final 10-lap shootout, the driver will double the winnings and take home Bruton Smith’s Big Bonus of an additional $1 million.
TRUEX ON SPRINT ALL-STAR RACE:“I’m looking forward to going there and hopefully winning the Showdown again, which we’ve done before in the NAPA Toyota. The All-Star Race is one of the best events of the year. To not be a part of it is pretty miserable. Hopefully, we’ll be able to make it in that thing, have some fun and chase a couple million bucks.
“I definitely think there’s some incentive to win. It builds confidence within a team and it gets the guys pumped up. I feel like we should win the Showdown. Anything less would be a disappointment. We’re going there guns loaded trying to do all we can do, and hopefully we’ll come out on the right side of it this time.”
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