WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - Martin Truex Jr. has a chance to join former NASCAR greats Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart as kings of the road.
When the green flag drops Sunday at Watkins Glen International, Truex will be seeking his third consecutive road-course victory.
The 11-turn, 2.4-mile circuit joins Sonoma Raceway in California (12 turns, 2.5 miles) as the only two true road courses on the Cup Series schedule, although Charlotte Motor Speedway's September race will mark the debut of what is being called the "roval" - a 13-turn, 2.4-mile layout that employs the infield and most of the track's 1.5-mile oval.
Gordon won six straight road-course races from 1997 to 2000 and nine overall in his career. His streak included three wins each at Watkins Glen and Sonoma. Stewart won three straight road-course races during 2004 and '05, and he won eight overall in his career.
Truex won last summer at Watkins Glen and two months ago at Sonoma, and now he is trying to join Stewart and Gordon as the only Cup Series drivers to win three straight races on road courses. Truex, last year's series champion, figures he's successful at such venues because he enjoys the challenge of the rare right-hand turns.
"It's a unique set of circumstances. It's an extra-special feeling to win on tracks that are completely different like this," Truex said Saturday, insisting he could be going for four straight if not for an engine failure last year at Sonoma, where he led for 25 laps in the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota.
"I think we should have three in a row already with the trouble we had at Sonoma last year, but that's kind of the way it goes in racing," he said.
Truex is part of what has been dubbed the Big Three this season in NASCAR. Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Truex have combined to win 16 of the 21 Cup Series points races this year. Busch and Harvick have six wins apiece, while Truex has four, but three of those have come in the past eight races. His win at Sonoma was by a margin of more than 10 seconds and was aided by crew chief Cole Pearn's gamble to pit off sequence from the rest of the race contenders.
Pearn was pivotal at Watkins Glen last year, when the No. 78 team won a strategic fuel mileage race. Truex held off Matt Kenseth on the final lap after Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski were forced to pit for gas as the race wound toward the checkered flag.
"You do what you can do," said Keselowski, a three-time runner-up at the track. "If it takes strategy to win, you play strategy. If you can win on speed, you try to win on speed."
Opportunities to win have been rare this season for those not part of the Big Three, and Joey Logano doesn't expect those drivers to give an inch Sunday. Busch, Harvick and Truex are the only active drivers in the Cup Series with previous wins at both Sonoma and Watkins Glen.
"I still expect the same cars to be fast," Logano said. "It wouldn't be surprising to see those three cars being three of the fastest."
The trio was as dominant as always last Sunday at Pocono, where Busch and Harvick had to start at the back of the field after their cars failed inspection after qualifying. They responded by quickly working their way to the front, and Busch captured his sixth victory of the season in his No. 18 Toyota, holding off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Daniel Suarez on a restart in overtime.
Trying to catch up has been an uphill battle, even for drivers in the same organization.
"I truly believe that to be fast at the race track, you need to have a fast car out of the hauler," Suarez said. "That's key. It's impossible when you get the car out of the hauler to make that 20th-place car a winning race car by the end of second practice. That doesn't happen because everybody is improving and you cannot improve that much."
Sunday will be a marathon for NASCAR and the teams because inspection was moved to prior to the race. At Pocono, a two-day "enhanced weekend" like Watkins Glen, the inspections were performed after Saturday qualifying - and it took hours, with several cars failing.
"You adjust your game plan accordingly if something does happen to go awry," Busch said. "It's going to be a quick turnaround for people to figure out their game plan."
Hamlin wins pole
The Big Three may not become a foursome anytime soon, but Denny Hamlin at least took a step toward changing his luck when he won the pole position for Sunday's race.
Hamlin, who is winless this season, won a pole for the 27th time in his Cup Series career. He turned a lap at 125.534 mph during qualifying Saturday to take the top spot in the No. 11 Toyota, just ahead of JGR teammate Busch, who will join him on the front row in the starting lineup.
"It's way too soon for that," Hamlin, who won here two years ago, said when asked if his effort was a step toward closing the gap between the field and Busch, Harvick and Truex. "We've got to really get the train back on the tracks, so to speak, start running in the top five more consistently like we were doing early in the year.
Chase Elliott will start third, with Truex in the fourth position and Harvick 16th.
Hamlin has been running just outside the top 10 consistently and is ninth in the season points standings, but a win would all but lock up a spot in the playoffs.
The starting lineup won't be official until after the cars are inspected Sunday morning.