In Australia's series against Sri Lanka, Starc will overtake Pat Cummins to become the side's most prolific paceman of recent years as the captain stays home for the birth of his child.
If he plays both Tests in Galle as expected, Starc will have featured in 44 of Australia's 48 matches since the 2019 Ashes, with Cummins present for 42 and injury-plagued Josh Hazlewood 24.
Starc had appeared hampered by a side issue in the fifth Test against India in the recent home summer.
But the big left-armer is feeling fit and ready for any role he plays in Sri Lanka, where limited swing curtailed his overs in the first Test of the last visit in 2022.
"I was a little bit banged-up (against India) but at 34, that's OK," he said ahead of the first Test that begins on Wednesday.
"I'm prepared to bowl a lot if need be, likewise if conditions are like the previous tour, it probably won't equate."
Starc has overcome early doubts about consistency to become one of Australia's greatest quicks. (Dave Hunt/AAP PHOTOS)
A young Starc would unlikely have believed that the day before his 35th birthday, he would be the leading quick on a sub-continent series during a golden era of Australian pace bowling.
The Sydney product only switched from wicketkeeping to bowling fast as a 14-year-old, and even though he took to it well enough to earn a Test debut seven years later in the home summer of 2010/11, insecurities remained.
It's why becoming the second Australian paceman to reach 100 Tests, behind Glenn McGrath, would mean so much.
Now on 94, Starc could reach the milestone before the home summer if he plays both matches in Sri Lanka, the World Test Championship final and the three matches of the West Indies tour.
"It'd be very humbling," Starc said.
"It could all finish in two Tests time. Who knows?
"I feel like Test cricket was the one that was the hardest for me to feel like I was enough for. So I want to try and be good enough for as long as I can be."
Learning on the fly came with challenges for Starc in those early years as an international cricketer.
Like mentor Mitchell Johnson before him, Starc was frequently scrutinised for his inconsistency, with the late spinner Shane Warne among his most vocal critics.
The noise fed into how Starc was already feeling.
"I was very raw and young when I first started, coming out of keeping into bowling probably a lot later than a lot of younger guys, who had always bowled. That was probably a part of it," he said.
Starc, seen on his Test debut against New Zealand in 2010-11, aged 20. (Dave Hunt/AAP PHOTOS)
Starc estimates it was probably around 2015 he finally began to feel he belonged at the top level.
He was player of the tournament in Australia's World Cup win that year, following up with a solid, if still sometimes erratic, first Ashes campaign.
"There was definitely a point where I saw or read everything and took it on as, 'I'll either prove you wrong (or not)'," he said.
"(But) you change as a person, not just as a cricketer, and learn to listen to the right things or switch off when you need to. I feel like I've certainly done that over the years and my approach to everything that comes with cricket has changed.
"I'm a lot more comfortable as a player and as a person because of that.
"Whether it's a bit more calmness, the silly things don't matter to me as much anymore."
As for how much longer a calm and collected Starc can be Australia's ironman, he's unsure.
"There's no secret that I love playing the Test cricket format the most. If I can keep going for a bit longer, then fantastic," he said.
"I'll always prepare myself to be able to get through as much Test cricket as I can."
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