Now all he has to do is not screw it up.

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Truex starts Sunday’s Hellmann’s 500 from pole position. Given that placement and the race’s impact on the Chase, Truex also will be under close scrutiny.

NASCAR failed Truex’s car during inspection before Saturday’s qualifying. The problem? A jack screw on the left front of his Furniture Row Racing Toyota. One piece that was different and illegal. An insignificant part and, or so it seems, unintentional bit.

After the piece was replaced, Truex roared out to post the day’s fastest qualifying speed, 193.423 mph.

The screw, or bolt, adjusts the car’s center of gravity and affects handling and performance. It was the wrong size and, apparently, hollow instead of being of solid steel.

Check responses to that tweet by Truex’s crew chief and see there are a number of people questioning its veracity. For now, the only ones that matter come from NASCAR.

Scott Miller, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, said a points penalty “is unlikely” and while an evaluation process is required. It cold be a safety issues, “but it wasn’t to the point to where we would think it was a safety infraction.”

Pearn described the confiscated piece as a manufacturing error. 

“They caught it in inspection and we were posted,” Pearn said. “It wasn’t intentional by any means. There’s no way you would do it at Talladega. Why would you do it on one side and not the other two if you were going to do it on purpose?

“Simple stuff like that gets caught all the time … NASCAR said they would review it, but people make mistakes all the time. It wasn’t intentional.”

Maybe it was, as Truex and crew contend, a stupid mistake.

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Truex holds a 13-point lead over Joey Logano and Austin Dillon entering Sunday’s race. Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick are assured of making the Chase’s Round of 8 after their victories at Charlotte and Kansas, respectively. Six other drivers must get in on points, or by winning at Talladega.

To win at Talladega, where restrictor plates hold down horsepower and all cars are roughly equal, drivers need to stay in the pack and draft. Lose the draft, lose the race. Nobody wins at Talladega on his lonesome … until pulling ahead in the mad dash to the finish line.

Truex might well win; he entered with four victories this season. Brad Keselowski, who starts second, might well win; he won May’s Talladega race and three others at the track. Or someone could win out of the blue. Don’t be surprised to see, say, Alex Bowman pull of a stunner.

One 8-inch bolt isn’t going to matter at race’s end.