Stats dive: Will Truex break through for first short-track win?

On his decorated resume, Martin Truex Jr. has a 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship, a coveted Coca-Cola 600 victory and 18 additional wins on speedways and road courses in NASCAR’s top competition. But one feat that has eluded the Joe Gibbs Racing driver in his career is a short-track win -- a box he'll look to check this weekend at 0.526-mile Martinsville Speedway. That's not to say Truex hasn't been close, especially in recent years where he's been agonizingly close. Truex has been passed for the win within the final 11 laps in three of the last eight short-track races. He notably -- and most recently -- came within mere feet of Martinsville's Victory Lane in the series' fall trip to Virginia on Oct. 28, 2018; Truex was pacing the field when Joey Logano moved him for the victory in the final corner at the Virginia track. Logano went on to win the championship less than a month later. WATCH: Logano moves Truex on last lap at Martinsville With frustration and heartbreak his most recent memory from "The Paperclip," Truex will head to the Virginia oval this weekend likely looking for redemption. He certainly has the team equipped to get it done. In the last 10 years, Joe Gibbs Racing has notched the most short-track wins with 27 trips to Victory Lane. Their 27 victories in a decade is more than Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske and Stewart-Haas Racing combined during that time period. In their complete short-track history, JGR has posted 35 victories with Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and Bobby Labonte behind the wheel. Of those six drivers, Hamlin, Stewart and Labonte all scored their first short-track win while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. So, what are the odds that Truex, in his first year with Joe Gibbs Racing, will become the fourth driver to do so in Sunday's showdown? Looking at his recent Martinsville runs, his chances are high. He's led the second-most laps on short tracks without a win (1,215) behind Sterling Marlin's 1,221 laps led, making him arguably the best driver in NASCAR history who hasn't won at a short track. Truex's past three races at Martinsville in particular have resulted in three straight top-five finishes. MORE: Martinsville 101 | All-time Martinsville spring winners Sunday's race at Martinsville could -- and may be -- the stage where Truex finally gives a winning performance at a short track. Only time will tell – or in Martinsville's case, the winner's grandfather clock trophy.