{"id":14242,"date":"2017-11-29T13:56:31","date_gmt":"2017-11-29T19:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=14242"},"modified":"2017-12-03T11:25:34","modified_gmt":"2017-12-03T17:25:34","slug":"hospital-visit-hits-home-for-martin-truex-jr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2017\/11\/29\/hospital-visit-hits-home-for-martin-truex-jr\/","title":{"rendered":"Hospital visit hits home for Martin Truex Jr."},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

LAS VEGAS \u2013 Matthew, a sixth grader, took a long look at the hero card.<\/p>\n

Then he glanced up at Martin Truex Jr.\u2019s<\/strong> face and made the connection.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Bass Pro Shops\/Tracker Boats Toyota, poses with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship trophy in front of the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign during NASCAR Champion’s Week on November 28, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWow!\u201d exclaimed Matthew, a pediatric patient at Sunrise Children\u2019s Hospital, as he recognized the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR<\/a> Cup Series champion.<\/p>\n

Truex smiled back, happy to provide a moment of pleasure to a stricken child whose every step is accompanied by an IV machine.<\/p>\n

A knot of reporters and photographers followed Truex on his visit to the hospital, but the champion\u2019s appearance\u2014during a week set aside to celebrate his accomplishments on the track, culminating in his first series title\u2014had a much deeper meaning to the veteran driver than a mere photo opportunity.<\/p>\n

Truex\u2019s girlfriend, Sherry Pollex, has been battling ovarian cancer. And even before Pollex was diagnosed in 2014, she and Truex had been active in children\u2019s causes through the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation. Their \u201cCatwalk for a Cause\u201d fashion show has raised more than $550,000 in the fight against childhood and ovarian cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely an honor to do it,\u201d Truex said of the visit. \u201cFor them to ask us to come here, and for NASCAR to schedule it and put it all together … it\u2019s such a grounding process when you go in there. It\u2019s a constant reminder, when you see those kids, of just how lucky we are to do what we do, and not only that, to wake up and be healthy every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just so unfair to see them, and it breaks my heart to see how much pain they\u2019re in and how tired they are. It\u2019s a tough thing to figure out how to talk to them, what to say and try to just maybe cheer them up a little. It\u2019s definitely humbling to come here and maybe help just a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the children\u2019s playroom, Truex sat at a small table with four children. In front of them at the center of the table were two Pinewood Derby-style wooden cars decorated by the patients. One car bore the markings \u201cMTJ 78.\u201d The other read simply \u201cChampion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Truex signed large hero cards and gave them to the children. Before he left the playroom, Truex and several of the children raced the wooden cars on a long, inclined track.<\/p>\n

Through his frequent visits to the Levine Children\u2019s Hospital in Charlotte, N.C., Truex has interacted with many pediatric patients, but the appearances are never routine. Pollex\u2019s battle against cancer makes them even more poignant.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we do it at home,\u201d Truex said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to Levine\u2019s in a few weeks to give out Christmas presents, to do the same thing\u2014to try to shed a little light and a little happiness for them. I can\u2019t imagine what they\u2019re going through and how they must think and feel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a reminder of how lucky we are. That\u2019s the biggest thing, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Visits like the \u201cGiving Tuesday\u201d trip to the Sunrise Children\u2019s Hospital are emblematic of the way Truex hopes to represent the sport as its champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love NASCAR. I love racing,\u201d Truex said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I grew up with as a childhood dream of mine. So I\u2019m going to do the best job I can and try to represent the sport well. There are a lot of great champions who have come before me, and hopefully I\u2019ll be able to hold up my end of the deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll try my best. I\u2019m probably a little different than most have been, I would say, but hopefully I\u2019ll bring something to the table that will help the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you were to ask the children at Sunrise Hospital, he already has.<\/p>\n

Martin Truex Jr. – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/LV_MENCS_Truex_112417.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS \u2013 Matthew, a sixth grader, took a long look at the hero card. Then he glanced up at Martin Truex Jr.\u2019s face and made the connection. \u201cWow!\u201d exclaimed Matthew, a pediatric patient at Sunrise Children\u2019s Hospital, as he recognized the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion. Truex […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14244,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[244,16],"class_list":["post-14242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-martin-truex-jr","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/MENCS_ChampsWeek_Truex_VegasSign3_112817.jpg?fit=4599%2C3066","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-3HI","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14242"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14305,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14242\/revisions\/14305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}