Last Sunday at Charlotte, Carl Edwards became the ninth driver to virtually guarantee himself a spot in this year's Chase for the Sprint Cup championship when he won the Coca-Cola 600 -- NASCAR's longest race of the season.

Martin Truex Jr. is hoping he will be the next driver to join the Chase party this weekend when the Sprint Cup Series competes at Dover International Speedway. Dover is Truex's home track.

Truex, who hails from Mayetta, New Jersey, is having the best start of his 10- year career in the series, as he currently sits second in the point standings (41 points behind leader and defending series champion Kevin Harvick). He has scored 11 top-10 finishes in 12 races this year, including a second-place run in the March 8 race at Las Vegas.

In the past two races, Truex has led the most laps but has come up short of winning. Earlier this month at Kansas, Truex ran in front for a total of 95 laps, but he took fuel only during his last pit stop and faded after the final restart in the closing laps to finish ninth. Jimmie Johnson won there.

At Charlotte, Truex led 131 laps but wound up finishing fifth.