If anyone deserves to capitalize on a strong starting position in Sunday's Coca-Cola 600, it's Martin Truex Jr.
He has been a force to be reckoned with all season. He's also had headline-making hard luck. Time after time Truex appeared to be headed for a win. Time after time, something cost him his chance.
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In the season opener it was Denny Hamlin, whipping past Truex at the line for the win in the closest finish in Daytona 500 history. At the time, finishing second in Sprint Cup's premier race seemed a positive sign, one of things to come.
A few races later at Auto Club Speedway, Truex was leading when Joey Logano slipped up to his car and Truex hit the wall, knocking him out of contention.
At Texas, he was leading when he stayed out on older tires during a late caution — and everyone behind him pitted. He lost the lead on an ensuing restart after a 13-car crash and surrendered the potential win to drivers with fresher tires.
At Kansas, he led 172 laps and pulled away from the field at will. But a late-race pit stop left him with a wheel issue, which caused him to come back and pit again. That cost him two laps and a shot at the win there.
"It sucks. I don't know what you want me to say," Truex told media members on pit road. "It's not fun to lead all those laps and come up 14th. I wish the race was longer. We were hunting them down quick at the end."
At Dover it was a late-race crash with Jimmie Johnson.
One couldn't question Truex if he spent his time wondering whether and when his on-track luck might change.
Instead, he often finds the positives in the season in interviews. After all, Truex has perspective — earlier this year he detailed on The Players' Tribune what his 2015 season was like as his longtime girlfriend, Sherry Pollex, battled ovarian cancer. Pollex is now cancer-free and she and Truex recently participated in the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation's Catwalk for a Cause annual event to raise money for pediatric and ovarian cancer.
It hasn't been all bad on the track, either. Truex is ninth in the standings. He has five top-10 finishes, one of them a top five, and an average finish of 12.4.
And being in position to challenge for the win — and to do so often — is nothing to scoff at. Truex knows that.
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"We've had a lot of strong points this year, a lot of good moments, we've led a lot of laps and this is our second pole," he said after snaring pole position for the 600. "It's obvious that our speed wasn't just a come-and-go type of thing; we've been fast everywhere every week. We obviously feel like we've let a few wins slip away so I wouldn't say this is the high point, but it's definitely a good feeling.
"Anytime your car is fast and you're getting poles and you're leading laps, that's where you want to be as a driver, that's where you want to be as a team. Now we just have to put it all together on Sunday and hopefully lead the last lap. We've led plenty of others, we just need to get that last one."
Now, he has another strong shot of doing just that.
Truex was fifth and third in Charlotte races last season, perhaps adding to his confidence as he prepares for this race.
Now, he just needs to close the deal — and to hope no outside factors wreak havoc on his shot at a win this time.