On the surface, Martin Truex Jr’s quick turnaround should be considered extraordinary. This journey isn’t one of change though. The team did nothing different between last season and this. The driver is back. The crew chief is back. The pit crew is back. Everyone returned. Nothing changed.

In a world where knee jerk reactions are more prevalent than patience, the No. 19 Toyota team with Joe Gibbs Racing stayed the course and they’re reaping the rewards of that decision.

That’s why if you dig deeper to the root, you’d notice that this season’s success is not all that unexpected despite struggles of a year ago.

Truex went from a winless campaign in 2022 with a season filled with disappointment including not making the playoffs to a three-win 2023 already and one that has made him a championship front runner.

That is a massive bounce back.

However, it’s not like 2022 was truly seeing him all that far off. He didn’t make the playoffs before he didn’t win and so many others did. I mean he was fifth in points in Daytona last August for crying out loud but didn’t make the postseason because that many winners behind 16th place did.

However, they did have their fair share of chances to win though too. They just didn’t either have the luck or execute or in some cases, both. Between some questionable pit calls, to tires falling off on pit road, to a pit road spin, to engines expiring while leading, bad luck brought on further bad luck a year ago.

That’s why Truex said that he can point to a number of times that they had a race winning car. It was just that they didn’t execute to get the job done. In saying that, some would wonder if they would move on from James Small and bring in a new crew chief to propel this team back.

Joe Gibbs said on Monday that a decision like that was never up for consideration.

“No. I think they — honestly, Martin (Truex Jr.) has such a great ability — I’m telling you, no matter how big a mess it was, that man is as even and never — you don’t shake him up,” he said on Monday after Truex’s Loudon win. “He has a real belief in James (Small), and Jazzy, our engineer there, we’re doing some interesting things with him. We’re bringing him to the racetrack now. I think that’s made a big difference, too.

“I think they’ve got a really good team. I think Martin has got a real confidence in that group.”

Truex also never wanted to break that chemistry up either. He likes the way that this team is constructed now and didn’t want to break up a potential good thing. He didn’t feel like it was personnel related as to why they weren’t winning races.

“I mean I love the team I like we’ve got a great bunch of guys we just need to get some things figured out, some pit road issues we need to figure out you know, some simulation issues,” he said last Fall.

Truex also said in the midst of that slump last year that his mindset remained the same every race.

“That’s what keeps you hungry, keeps coming back keeps you motivated,” he said. “You know, I’ve had years where I knew we were showing up, you’re gonna have a chance to win. So from that standpoint, I mean, it really wasn’t that difficult. It was more of that by the end of the week and you’re like, Okay, frustrated again. We didn’t get it done. Now we gotta go back and start over. And try to get it done next week.

“So there’s always light at the end of the tunnel that we can get it done because I know we can you know we I mean two weeks ago at Homestead we have shot when there you know and so just kind of be more consistent. We got to take advantage of opportunities when they arise and not make as many mistakes as we did including me. You know, I made my share of mistakes this year as well so I mean I need to work on that and make sure I don’t do it again. So as a whole we just need to work on all those little details. And like I said hopefully understand these cars better for certain tracks and have a better overall car on certain tracks compared to some of our competitors.

“You know, I just want to take it as it comes and I know you know the reason I came back is because I knew we could win at any single weekend.

“And I’m like, I can’t stop yet, we’re too good. You know, I mean not saying that in an arrogant way, but I just feel like any weekend we just show up and win still and I’d hate to not take advantage of that.

“So hopefully, like I said, we can get the ball rolling next year early and be more consistent and we’re having fun and winning races again, and that’ll be it’ll make decisions a lot easier. As long as everything else comes together and there’s a lot of things that need to come together to make these deals work. So no idea at this point in time, but excited for you know, obviously coming back next year and hopefully doing some great things.”

Boy have they ever. He won the Clash in February which not only solidified his decision to come back but was the turning point for a three-win 2023 season thus far.

“The Clash, amazingly enough, winning that thing was a big confidence deal,” Gibbs said on Monday.

Truex agreed saying something similar five months ago.

“I just think for us it reminds us that we’re doing the right stuff and we can still go out and win any given weekend,” Truex noted that night. “We felt that way last year, but it never happened.

“You always get those questions, right, like are we fooling ourselves or whatever, but it’s just always nice when you finish the deal.

“It’s huge. It’s a huge confidence booster.

“And racing is funny. We didn’t really change anything, the way we do stuff. We just tried to focus and buckle down and say, okay, these are things we’ve got to look at and work on, and that’s what we did, and we had a little fortune tonight.”

The issues that crept up last year aren’t doing so this season and it’s allowing Truex to thrive as a result. He’s the current points leader. He has 18 playoff points accumulated. If he wins the regular season title, that’s 15 more playoff points coming his way.

Things are looking up. But, it’s not like they’ve done anything different. It’s just better luck and execution.

“Yeah, I think he and James right now, it’s so important, that combination,” Gibbs said. “Last year we all know in this sport you can have years where things just won’t go your way, and I can’t think of how many times I still got a picture of the car spinning on pit road down at Homestead and things like that happening to him.

“I think we were fast certainly last year at times, but I think this year has just been totally different. I think they’ve kind of set their mind to have a great year. Couldn’t come at a better time for us.”

Truex says that the turn around too is largely tied to experience with this race car. It was all new to everyone last season but with 36 points paying races, the Clash and All-Star race behind them, it gave them enough data to come back with in 2023.

“Just experience with this race car really. I think James and I have always had a great relationship, have always gelled and worked really well together, understand each other.” said Truex. “Last year was just one of those years where we had a lot working against us.

“But we learned a lot, and now we’ve got better race cars. We have a better understanding of them, and that consistency that we’ve shown and the ability to lead laps and win races is proof of that.

“We never changed a thing with our team, our people, our process, the way we did things. We just have better cars, better understanding of our cars, and showing up to the racetrack ready to roll with a lot of speed this year.”