Martin Truex Jr. had a rather slower than normal start to the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season. In fact, his first eight races of the year saw him come out of the gates with one of his worst average finishes to a start of a season since 2014.

It’s not like he was bad either though. It was just that they weren’t finishing races off like they should have been. From pit road troubles to his car trailing off over the second half of the race, his No. 19 Toyota just didn’t have “it” in comparison to recent seasons.

Now they do and I think the whole series needs to take notice.

Last Sunday, he got going in the right direction. Truex, won both stages in Atlanta and earned his first top five finish of the year with a third place run that day. On Wednesday, he finally won in Martinsville.

Now, can he win for a second time in four days? He should be among the favorites. Truex, has three straight top two finishes at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. While he’s won four of the last six short track races, Truex is at his best on 1.5 mile tracks.

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Out of the last 69 races on 1.5-mile tracks, no one has as many wins as Truex (12). Plus, Atlanta and Homestead will have similarities and Truex was strong there last weekend.

“I think you kind of forget about Martinsville and you look back at Atlanta mostly I would say just because those tracks are pretty similar,” Truex said ahead of Sunday’s race. “I think we’ll use a similar approach to Miami that we did there.

“We had a strong race at Atlanta.  Felt like we had a shot at winning until we got too tight at the end.  I’m excited and optimistic about what we can do in Miami.  We’ve been good there in the fall as well, good there the last couple seasons.

“For me you change gears and think about what you need to do to drive the car fast, what it takes.  I think the biggest thing is for the team.  It’s a lot of preparation, a short turnaround.  All the guys back at the shop are doing an amazing job of just busting their tails in such situations with the way they can’t really work around each other and stuff like that with the social distancing thing.  They’re doing a great job.  Nothing is falling off the cars, which is something to be said about that.  Really proud of them.  Happy to give them their first win of the year.”

The momentum is on his side. Watch out.