FONTANA, Calif. -- Who would have thought it would come down to this?

Two weeks to go before the Chase for the Nextel Cup commences, there is only one Junior employed by Dale Earnhardt Inc. who appears poised to make the Chase -- and his last name isn't Earnhardt.

It's DEI's other Junior, Martin Truex Jr., who enters this Sunday's Cup race at California Speedway 11th in points. The top 12 in driver points after the first 26 races of the season qualify for the Chase, which is comprised of the final 10 races.

Although Truex sits in 11th, he's only one point out of 10th and just 57 behind Clint Bowyer, who is ninth. And he's well clear of DEI teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., who sits in 13th and 158 points behind 12th-place Kurt Busch.

All of which means that Truex plans to be mighty conservative during this Sunday's race, with his focus on surviving the race and possibly clinching a spot in the Chase -- or at least moving one step closer in that direction. The final race of the regular season will be at Richmond the following Saturday.

"Obviously you're not going to take any chances," Truex said. "You have to be smart. Winning is not the most important thing for us right now, obviously. We just need to have good, solid runs -- and I think we're more than capable of doing that."

So does Max Siegel, who as president of DEI said he was amazed to see the level of maturity Truex displayed earlier this season when the 27-year-old suddenly was thrust into a leadership role at the organization. It wasn't long after Earnhardt announced he was leaving DEI that Truex earned his first and so far only Cup win at Dover.

That began a stretch during which Truex finished in the top three in four of five races. He added another second-place finish, his second of the season, at Michigan three weeks ago and also finished sixth recently on the road course at Watkins Glen, showcasing his versatility as a driver.

But it has been his leadership within the No. 1 Chevrolet team that has been most impressive throughout, Siegel said.

"He loves to drive the car," Siegel said. "He's a very natural leader. In fact, I'm just amazed at how he's slid into a leadership role almost seamlessly. But it's his passion. He loves hunting and fishing and driving a racecar. He's just a great guy to work with."

That's a great fit since the primary sponsor for the Truex car is Bass Pro Shops and Tracker Boats. But the fact is that until Earnhardt announced he was leaving DEI and eventually signed a five-year contract to drive for Hendrick Motorsports, beginning next season, Truex was always going to be the secondary driver at DEI.

Now the driver of the No. 1 moving into the No. 1 spot before the more famous Junior has even made his way to the DEI door.

"It almost happened instantaneously," Siegel said. "He's a great teammate. The interesting thing about really great leaders is that they know how to lead and also how to be a part of the team. So each week you see him as a part of the team, just supporting the company and being a great teammate. And suddenly when the focus was on him because of Dale Jr.'s announcement, he didn't change at all. He didn't shy away from it. He wasn't afraid to kind of step up and be himself.

Truex said that is what he has tried to do more than anything else -- despite the changes in circumstances, he has tried to remain the same guy.

"I didn't change a whole lot, really," Truex said. "It was a little bit of an eye-opening experience, how it all went down. I think overnight it instantly matured me a little bit, just thinking about all the things I'm going to have on my shoulders for the next however long it's going to be.

"I just did what I thought was right. I didn't go out and do or say anything that I wouldn't have ever done before. I just went out and tried to do my job better than I ever had. I think that's the only thing that changed. I think my focus became better than it had ever been."

Siegel said that he envisioned Chase-type success coming for the Truex team even before this season began.

"You know what? That team has been together for a while," Siegel said. "They came up together through the Busch Series. I've seen it all along. It's just with all the things that have happened, it's given everybody else the opportunity to see how hard they work and how dedicated he is.

"But each week, he doesn't mind stepping up and accepting the responsibility of being a leader. And every single week, I see more growth."

Truex, who won Busch Series championships in each of his two seasons racing at that level, finished 19th in points last year during his first full Cup season. He agreed with Siegel that the No. 1 team was poised for success this season, regardless of whether he would have been forced into a leadership position at DEI. Their success in the Busch Series prepared them for it, he said.

"I think it was definitely a big part of the reason why we're as good as we are this year," Truex said. "It was part of the reason why it took us a while to get going last year -- because we were all new to the Cup Series with the cars and the setups and the tracks and stuff. So it took us a little while to try to find a routine, find some stuff that works for us -- to find the way we need to do things to be successful.

"But having that chemistry and that relationship and that confidence in each other was the ultimately the reason that we were able to get through those hard times, and not get mad, and not fire people, and not start pointing the fingers. We all took the blame when we messed up, and all learned from it together. And we've come a long way because of those reasons."

Now he's the Junior poised to step over the threshold into the Chase. His strategy this Sunday, when he'll start eighth, will be simple.

"There's really not that much pressure on us at all," Truex said. "We just have to go out and do our job and hope that nothing falls out of the sky onto our racecar."