Truex confident as first full-time year begins

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- If Martin Truex Jr. is feeling any pressure, he certainly isn't showing it. Maybe he's too young to know better. Maybe he's a good actor.

Or maybe he's simply confident. He has every reason to be, given that he drives for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Chance 2 Motorsports team. You know that bunch -- the team that won three times on restrictor-plate races in 2003. Did we mention that was done in three races?

	Martin Truex Jr.

Oh, sure, that was with Earnhardt Jr. himself driving the car. Well, Hank Parker Jr. finished fifth, fifth and seventh in the car, and Truex Jr. finished second in the final two races of 2003 with it.

Truex Jr. is back this year and will compete for the Busch Series championship in the No. 81 Chevrolet. Is he confident? You decide.

"I think we can go out there and win races and contend (for the championship)," Truex Jr. said on the eve of the season-opening Hershey's Kisses 300 at Daytona International Speedway. "Consistency is going to be the name of the game - and not running into any bad luck along the way. I've got a great team and a great crew chief (Kevin Manion). We've really worked well in the past together. We have the best resources that we could ever ask for.

"I don't see why there's any reason we can't contend for the championship. We just need to look at the big picture and finish races and be competitive every week. I think we can do it."

Yeah, he's confident. Is it justified? His car owner thinks so.

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"Martin can get the job done," Earnhardt Jr. said. "He's a rookie in the Busch Series, but he's no rookie behind the wheel. He has a great idea of what he's trying to accomplish on the racetrack. He has a great sense of patience and also knows when to really push the car hard.

"I feel pretty confident in Martin, I think he'll do a good job if he keeps his head on straight and keeps everything as far as his ego and all that good stuff intact. He'll be in good shape."

Truex certainly is in good shape this week. He's been at the top of the practice sheet in two of the three Busch Series practices and was ninth in the other. Truex led Thursday's final pre-qualifying practice with a fast lap of 181.609 mph.

That makes Truex Jr. one of the favorites to when the pole for Saturday's race when qualifying gets underway Friday at 10:15 a.m. (ET).

But when the race starts, well, that's another matter. Truex Jr. doesn't have much experience in the draft, but he does have a good teacher. Earnhardt Jr. said he taught Truex everything he knows.

"There's not a whole lot out there," Earnhardt Jr. said. "There's little things that drivers think work or don't work. He's seemed to pick it up real fast."

Truex got a lot of drafting work in during a NASCAR test at Talladega Superspeedway. And you can bet he'll try to find Earnhardt Jr. during Saturday's race.

"There's not really a better person to follow, I guess," Truex said. "We'll get in the race and see what happens."

What happened to the confidence? Maybe there's pressure at match Earnhardt Jr. at Daytona.

"Maybe here there is," Truex said. "If he wins, and I finish 10th ... we'll see what happens."

If he does finish 10th, at least that's a good start, points-wise, for the season.

"I try not to think about it," Truex said. "I'm just real excited to have the opportunity. I have a lot of confidence in the team and the cars they're building. We've got a lot of confidence going into this year. We're not going to think about anything. We're just going to try to win races and do the best we can."