Having endured a tough season to date, Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty will hope to kick start a late-season run as the Grand Am Rolex Series heads to Watkins Glen for the Crown Royal 200.

The defending race winners, and defending series champions, head into Friday's race eager to try and add to the lone win secured thus far this season at Mid-Ohio back in June.

Although the GAINSCO pair have had the speed throughout the campaign, a run of bad luck has left them off the pace in terms of the championship race and they will look to try and at least end the season on a high with four races still to run.

"It's amazing the number of races that we really should have won, where we had a car to win and we were in the lead when something totally out of our control happens," team owner Bob Stallings said. "I realise it is all racing and it is what it is. We just have to bounce back and we will."

Like Stallings, Fogarty and Gurney know the team has what it takes to turn the corner.

"This team has proven in the past that once we get on a rally we are hard to stop," said Fogarty, who joined Gurney in leading all but one of the 82 laps in the 2007 Crown Royal 200. "We have been so close to breaking out so many times this year and we all know we can still get there. We have four races left and anything can happen.

"It is going to be a tough race. It is another two-hour race and in a way those are more difficult, and there will be a lot of fast cars there too. Making one pit stop like we saw at Montreal may not be an option because you run wide open for so long and burn a lot of fuel. We really don't like the tracks that are wide open for a long time. That doesn't help us out, but we will be in a good position. We know what to do to make sure we get down those straights as best we can.

"We have to focus on the race and not worry necessarily about outright pace there."