Today, the Buc-ee’s convenience store in Katy is home to the world’s longest car wash. But could a new Buc-ee’s car wash in Baytown soon knock the Katy operation off its pedestal next year?

A recent filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Registration shows Lake Jackson-based Buc-ee’s plans to spend $6 million to add a car wash “tunnel” at its Baytown location, which opened in 2014 at 4080 East Fwy. The filing says construction will begin in November and wrap up in May 2023.

There’s no indication, though, how long the Baytown car wash will be. Therefore, we don’t know yet whether the Baytown facility will steal the title of world’s longest car wash from its 255-foot-long counterpart in Katy. For the sake of comparison, an NFL football field is 360 feet long.

Given that the Baytown project is still early in concept, a representative for Buc-ee’s wasn’t able to comment, but does promise an update when available.

As locals will recall, Katy’s store, including the massive car wash, opened in 2017 at 27700 Katy Fwy. A Southern-themed website, It’s a Southern Thing, notes that the tunnel-shaped car wash “looks more like a playland than a car wash, with all kinds of washers and scrubbers and multi-colored foam. If a kid ever dreamed up a car wash, this would be it.”

The Katy car wash cost about $3 million to build, suggesting that the $6 million Baytown car wash might be longer. The Katy facility features 25 brushes, 17 high-powered blow dryers, and suds in blue, yellow, and pink, according to the Atlas Obscura website.

“It takes five minutes to go through the entire building,” Atlas Obscura says, “and can accommodate up to 16 cars at a time.”

It should come as no surprise to any Texan that cult favorite Buc-ee’s — known for its squeaky clean restrooms, Beaver Nuggets snacks, and abundance of gas pumps — operates the world’s longest car wash. After all, it already runs the world’s largest convenience store.

For years, the Buc-ee’s store in New Braunfels (close to 65,000 square feet) has held the title of world’s largest convenience store. Recently, the convenience store chain has planned larger locations in Tennessee and Colorado. Those two out-of-state stores are under construction.

So, for the time being, the New Braunfels store remains the world’s largest.

The company revealed in June that a 75,000-square-foot replacement store in Luling, outside Austin, would return to Texas the honor of hosting the world’s largest convenience store after the Tennessee and Colorado locations open.

In perhaps proof that the beloved beaver haven is a true cultural icon, Buc-ee’s was featured in a lengthy CBS Sunday Morning segment — appropriately titled “Welcome to Buc-ee’s”— in January.