Martin Truex Jr. has been named the 2016 Eastern Motorsport Press Association National Driver of the Year. The award was voted on by members of the EMPA.

Driving the No. 78 Toyota Camry for Denver-based Furniture Row Racing, Truex’s stellar 2016 season in NASCAR’s premier division included four wins, five poles and a series’ leading 1,805 laps led, all career season highs for the native of Mayetta, N.J.

His dominating victory at the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway set a NASCAR record for miles led (588) and an event record for laps led – 392 out of 400.

“Martin had an impressive season, winning two of the triple crown events – the Coca-Cola 600 and Southern 500 (Darlington, S.C.),” said Earl Krause, a veteran motorsports journalist, EMPA board member and lead announcer at Pocono Raceway. “He nearly pulled off NASCAR’s version of the triple crown but came up inches short of winning the Daytona 500. He also had exciting Chase victories at Chicago and Dover. I covered Martin since his early racing days at Wall Stadium in New Jersey, and like his father – Martin Truex Sr. -- he has always been a class act both on and off the track.”

This is the second time Truex will be the recipient of the EMPA Al Holbert Memorial National Driver of the Year trophy. He received the prestigious hardware after winning the 2004 XFINITY Series championship.

“My racing roots are in the Northeast and to be recognized by the EMPA takes on a special meaning for the entire Truex family,” noted Truex. “My family has spent many days and nights racing at Northeastern tracks, and that’s why I always feel like I’m going home when the NASCAR series competes at Dover, Pocono and New Hampshire.”

Truex added, “I want to thank the EMPA members for this humbling honor. The real heroes are my teammates at Furniture Row Racing for bringing fast race cars to the track on a weekly basis. I also want to thank our team owner Barney Visser, team president Joe Garone and our sponsors – Furniture Row, Denver Mattress, Toyota, Bass Pro Shops, TRACKER Boats, Auto-Owners Insurance and Visser Precision.”

Truex joins an elite list of drivers from different racing disciplines who have garnered the EMPA National Driver of the Year award, including Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Rusty Wallace, Tony Stewart and Terry Labonte from NASCAR; Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti and Mark Donohue from IndyCar; and Joe Amato and John Force from the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA).

-- Press release courtesy of Eastern Motorsport Press Association

In what has become a much-anticipated season kick-off event, NASCAR will offer FREE admission to the NASCAR Hall of Fame as part of NASCAR Fan Appreciation Day. That’s just one of the many exciting offerings during the day-long celebration of NASCAR’s passionate fans, scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 21 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

NASCAR stars past and present will participate in autograph and Q&A sessions throughout the day, in addition to free access to the Hall. Fans will be admitted into the Hall on a first-come, first-served basis in lieu of needing a ticket. Doors open at 8 a.m. ET.

However, tickets to the below autograph sessions featuring stars from all three NASCAR national series must be secured in advance. Tickets for these autograph sessions will be available for free on NASCARHall.com.
Each fan can secure up to two tickets for one of the seven autograph sessions (one ticket for an individual or two tickets for an individual and their guest).

DALE EARNHARDT, JR. DRIVER OF THE NO. 88 CHEVROLET SS AND RICK HENDRICK, OWNER OF HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS, spoke with members of the media via teleconference to discuss Dale’s return to the seat of the No. 88 Chevrolet SS for on-track competition in 2017.

Full Transcript:

WELCOME BACK.  YOU TESTED DARLINGTON ON WEDNESDAY, WHICH WAS THE FINAL STEP BEFORE BEING MEDICALLY CLEARED FOR COMPETITION.  HOW DID IT FEEL TO BE BACK BEHIND THE WHEEL OF A RACECAR AND HOW DID THE TEST GO OVERALL FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE?

DALE EARNHARDT, JR.:“Well, the test, I thought, couldn’t have gone any better.  Darlington was a great host and NASCAR was really great to work with to put it together.  I really appreciate them creating opportunities and rules for drivers in this type of situation to be able to get in a car.  It really helps build your confidence to know that everything is working like it’s supposed to work, no matter what your injury it before you go get back into a full race weekend.  It’s nice to be able to kind of get some personal reassurance and confidence.  I was really happy to have the opportunity.  We got to the racetrack, the weather was great and we just ran laps.  We put tires on, run 15 laps at a time; take about a 20 minute break, Dr. (Jerry) Petty was there.  We did a personal evaluation before we got in the car to set a baseline and Dr. Petty was evaluating me after each run to see if everything was good.  A lot of the things that he was checking, visual and balance and so forth, actually strengthened throughout the process.  You sort of get acclimated and up to speed with what it takes to kind of drive a racecar and those systems strengthen through that process.  Rather than see them sort of flat-line and stay the same, which was what I was hoping for, they actually got stronger.  That was great.  I felt like throughout the day I got more and more comfortable in the car and it felt like an old shoe by the end of the day.  I was happy with the speed we had. That wasn’t really the ultimate goal, but we had great speed. The car drove really good and we just continued to put tires on it and go out and run 30 laps at a time.  And come in, get out, think about it, talk about it, get checked out and by the end of the day we felt really confident that health wise I was 100 percent and ready to get back in the car.”