By: Jay W. Pennell
Sprint Cup Correspondent
HardcoreRaceFans.com

Dale Earnhardt Inc.’s Martin Truex Jr. is looking forward to this weekend’s All-Star Race to say the least. It was at this point last year that his No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats team turned the corner and became a contender.

Truex Jr. entered last year’s Sprint Showdown at Lowe’s Motor Speedway 18th in the series standings and still without a Cup Series win. Inconsistent runs and engine failures left the team frustrated and searching for answers.

“We had been struggling through the first part of last year,” Truex said. “We ran good at Daytona to start off the year, but we got caught up in a wreck and finished 29th. Then we had an engine failure at California the next week and finished 42nd. Even though we had managed to put together a couple of good runs after that, we were still trying to find our way as a team.”

That search came together the night of the Sprint Showdown, as Truex Jr. powered his way to the front. Truex Jr. took the win and transferred into the All-Star Race, where he finished 10th, one spot behind then teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr.

“Winning the Showdown was big for a couple of reasons,” Truex Jr. explained, “First, it qualified us for the All-Star race, which was one of our goals at the beginning of the season. The main reason though, was that it showed us we belonged. It proved to me, Bono (crew chief Kevin Manion) and the rest of the guys that we could compete at this level.”

The win in the Sprint Showdown and a great run in the All-Star main event provided the DEI team with the momentum it was searching for. The next week at the Coca-Cola 600 Truex finished 16th and then headed to his home track, the Monster Mile – Dover International Speedway. Running the race of his career, Truex Jr. was able to win the Monday matinee for his first career Cup Series victory – thus qualifying him for Saturday night’s main event.

“Those two weeks in Charlotte were definitely a big deal for us as a race team,” Truex added. “We went to Dover knowing that we could be successful at this level. We won there and things just started to roll.” So far this season Truex Jr. finds himself in a similar situation. Currently 15th in points, the number one driver at DEI has only one top-5 (Richmond) and 3 top-10s, while he has been set back by two DNFs at Texas and Talladega.

Heading back to Charlotte for the All-Star weekend, Truex Jr. hopes some of last year’s luck plays out again this year. "Hopefully, this weekend will kick start our season for us again," Truex Jr. said.