There was the eight win season and the championship in 2017, but, beyond that, they ascension of Martin Truex, Jr. into NASCAR's elite has almost been under-the-radar. With his second consecutive win at Sonoma, Truex, Jr. has now won 20 races in the last 3 1/2 years.
And, if you'd like to break that down a little further, it's 20 wins in the last 112 starts.
The challenges that Truex has gone through during his Cup career have been well-documented. Also consider this: he still contended for a title last year, despite his team knowing they were going to be shut down. And, moved this year, in essence, to a brand new team.
When I asked his crew chief, Cole Pearn, what his secret was at Sonoma, he said simply, "Martin Truex". The two of them have become one of the top driver/crew chief pairings of this generation. And, the way they're running right now, it's starting to feel like 2017 around the garage again.