Pocono sweep won't be an easy feat for Martin Truex Jr.

One thing Martin Truex Jr. and his Furniture Row Racing team have learned about competition in the Sprint Cup Series – you can’t rest on what you’ve already accomplished.

Although Truex dominated and won the series’ first visit to Pocono Raceway in June, FRR brought a new No. 78 Chevrolet to Pocono this weekend for Sunday’s Windows 10 400.

That’s a stout group of drivers and it would be pretty special to be included with them ... We’re going to have a big target on our back but that’s OK

Martin Truex Jr.

“I think honestly at this point we are constantly working at getting better and constantly working on trying to find more speed. I don’t think we have anything set aside car wise that we feel like is better than what we can build going forward,” Truex said.

“The team is pushing hard, they are working hard and trying to do everything they can to keep getting better. Things change so fast around here that you’ve got to work hard.”

Need more evidence? Even Truex’s fortunes have changed somewhat since his trip to Victory Lane in June.

Running low on luck

That win was Truex’s 13th Top-10 finish in the first 14 races of the season. In the six races since, he’s had just two and twice got caught up in wrecks and failed to finish.

A fourth-place finish last Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway ended a four-race span in which Truex finished 12th or worse. He’s also failed to lead a lap in the last six races.

Truex hopes the return to Pocono translates to a return to running up front and contending for the win.

“It’s been a little bit up and down here lately, but I feel like we still have speed in our race cars. We really haven’t been to any tracks where we feel like we have really performed well at,” Truex said.

“I think we have some more good tracks coming up. I feel like we still have that momentum, we just kind of had some bad luck along the way. We are obviously looking for more speed just like everybody is.”

Only seven others have completed the sweep

A victory Sunday would also put Truex in some elite company among NASCAR’s greats.

Truex would become just the eighth driver to sweep Pocono’s two Cup series races in the same season. The others are: Bobby Allison (1982), Bill Elliott (1985), Tim Richmond (1986), Bobby Labonte (1999), Jimmie Johnson (2004), Denny Hamlin (2006) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2014).

“That’s a stout group of drivers and it would be pretty special to be included with them,” said Truex. “After winning there last month how can you not feel good and upbeat about returning to Pocono? 

“We’re going to have a big target on our back but that’s OK. We'll use everything we learned last time and more to hopefully achieve a Pocono sweep.”