Martin Truex Jr. has a tiny (four point) hold on second place in the Sprint Cup standings and a mixed history at Daytona heading into Sunday’s Coke Zero 400 at the world’s most-famous racetrack. He set a good tone earlier this year for Furniture Row Racing with an eighth place finish at the Daytona 500 and needs to finish in the top ten again if he hopes to make up any ground on points leader Kevin Harvick, or at least keep pace with Joey Logano and Jimmy Johnson who are hot on his trail.

Last week’s crash at Sonoma resulted his worst finish of the year, making this a possible make-or-break race for Truex and the No. 78 Chevy.

Furniture Row Racing first qualified for the Daytona 500 in 2008 with Joe Nemecheck (finished 41st) and Kenny Wallace (finished 43rd). They had their best finish in 2011 with a seventh place finish by Regan Smith. Their best finish in the Coke Zero 400 was in 2013 with Kurt Busch finishing sixth.

Truex is no newbie when it comes to the track at Daytona. He has been racing there since 2005, with 20 races under his belt. He has competed in 11 Daytona 500 races and nine Coke Zero 400 races.

Of the 20 races at the superspeedway, he’s failed to finish three, including last year’s Daytona 500. Truex made it through just 31 laps before bowing out due to engine failure.

His best finish in the 500 was his sixth place in 2010 and his best effort at the annual Fourth of July weekend race was a 13th place back in 2007 when the Coke Zero 400 was the Pepsi 400. This year’s eighth place finish at the 500 bodes well for Sunday’s 400.

The race has a very patriotic theme and Truex has something very special planned for the race.

The No. 78 Chevy will carry a logo on the lower quarter panels of the car of the Puerto Rico’s 65th Infantry Regiment, known as the Borinqueneers, who participated in World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the War on Terror. The Borinqueneers were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President Barack Obama on June 14, 2014, and to honor them, Truex will represet them on his car during the race.

“It is our honor to celebrate the heroic contributions of our friends from Puerto Rico for their acts of bravery and fight to preserve democracy,” said Furniture Row Racing team owner Barney Visser on the Furniture Row Racing website. Visser is a U.S. Army veteran who served in Vietnam . “To receive the Congressional Gold Medal demonstrates the highest standard of heroism and patriotism that the Borinqueneers have exemplified throughout the history of the 65th Infantry Regiment.”

Not only will the Borinqueneers be represented on the No. 78 car, the veterans will participate in a NASCAR media event Sunday at 6:15 p.m. ET in the Daytona infield media center and will also be on the stage during the prerace ceremony at 7 p.m.

After his crash at Sonoma, Truex has a lot to gain at Daytona. To date, this has been the most successful Sprint Cup season of Truex’s career, with 14 top-10 finishes in his first 15 races of the year. He joins Richard Petty has the only two drivers to hit that mark.

“After what happened to us in Sonoma we can’t wait to get back on track,” said Truex on the team website. “But Daytona is a lot like Sonoma – trouble can find you anytime and at any point of the track. We just need to stay focused, run up front and take care of our equipment.”

Truex has yet to win a Sprint Cup race in his career but at the rate this season is going, this could be his year. He knows what it take to win at a superspeedway, because he has done it before. Back when he was racing in the Xfinity Series, he had four superspeedway victories, one in 2005 at the July Daytona race and three straight wins at Talladega from 2004 to 2006.

“We had solid runs this year at the two superspeedway races, finishing eighth at Daytona and fifth at Talladega,” said Truex. “I am confident that we’ll have another fast car this weekend.”

After the fireworks settle down from Saturday and the cars rev up on Sunday, Truex could be very explosive, looking for his first Sprint Cup win. Daytona would be a fine place to do it.

Sabrina Naccarato, a Mile High Sports intern and MSU-Denver student, contributed to this report