Raybestos Rookie Reed Sorenson posted the second-best overall speed in the final practice session for the Sylvania 300. The rest of the class: Martin Truex Jr. (11th), David Stremme (12th), Denny Hamlin (22nd), Clint Bowyer (29th) and J.J. Yeley (38th).

REED SORENSON, No. 41 TARGET DODGE: “I think we’re okay. We didn’t have a whole lot of time there. Both practices are pretty short so we didn’t have a lot of time to make a lot of adjustments there. We think we’re pretty good. I think we’ve got a top-five car and if we can get it a little better maybe get it good enough where we can win.” YOU RAN WELL HERE IN THIS PAST JULY. “We ran out of gas there. I think we spent 175 laps in the top-five. We didn’t run where we finished. It’s one of those deals where we didn’t have the right fuel mileage in it. We’re debating right now to see what we’re going to do as far as fuel mileage again. We had a fast car and that’s all you can ask for. We just didn’t have the rest of it and I think we’ve got a good car again. I think the top-five or six other guys got a lot better since the last time we were here so there’s going to be a little bit stronger top-10 this time.” QUALIFYING MUST BE FRUSTRATING FOR YOU BECAUSE YOU HAVE A FAST CAR IN THE RACE. “It is but then again, we run 300, 400 and 500 mile races. Some of the best cars that I’ve had all year I’ve started way in the back. The year Matt Kenseth won the championship I think he probably averaged starting about 35th. It’s not fun to start in the back by any means but I’d rather have a good race car and start in the back than a bad race car and start in the front, that’s for sure. We’ve just got to figure out how to qualify a little bit better. I think in both practices we ran a faster lap than what we did in qualifying. Maybe we should just qualify in race trim [laughs].”

David Stremme finished 11th in the July race at New Hampshire, his best finish in 28 NEXTEL Cup Series starts. Stremme will start sixth in Sunday’s race.

DAVID STREMME, No. 40 LONE STAR STEAKHOUSE DODGE: “It’s not bad. We kind of screwed it up a little in the last practice session but I feel we’re better than where we were at here in the summer and we finished 11th. We’ve just got to get a good finish and get a victory for our team. One of us has to. I think both Reed and I are real happy with our cars. We’ve just got to get Casey’s a little bit better. In all, I’m pretty happy with everything.” WAS THE JULY RACE HERE THE BEST RACE YOU’VE HAD THIS YEAR? “Yeah, it was, so we really looked forward to coming back here and trying to get better. Like I said, we’ve been qualifying better, we just need to get the end result so that’s what we’re working on now.” IF YOU DO START IN THE BACK HERE, HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO GET TO THE FRONT? “You can. You can kind of do two-tires and other stuff but the thing is, we’ve got a pit opening which is big because last week we had guys that pitted in the front and back of us and all three of us we’re screwing each other up. That was big for us when we got good track position to start with. It does pay off but at the end of the day, you’ve got to be up there and that’s what we’re looking at.” CAN YOU SEE IMPROVEMENT WITHIN THE TEAM? “Yeah, a lot better. It’s just a building year. We started over halfway through the year and we’ve gotten a lot better. If I’d rate my team, we’re a mid-pack team right now and we’re getting a lot better. Just got to keep working on it.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FEDEX EXPRESS CHEVROLET: “It’s pretty good. We’ve struggled finding speed but my balance feels really good and that’s always been good enough. It seems like I always struggle here in practice to find just raw speed, but in the race, when the pace slows down, our car is always good.” IS TRACK POSITION GOING TO BE KEY HERE TOMORROW? “I think it’s going to be a pretty big deal. The tires are falling off a little bit, which is good. Of course, I wish we had soft tires where they’d really fall off. I think track position is really going to be key because you’re going to have to lineup with all the lap cars on the inside and you could get mired back there pretty easily.” CAN YOU GET AWAY WITH A TWO-TIRE CHANGE? “I think it’s a possibility. I think some guys are going to try it and we’re going to probably do it at some point of the race just to see if it works or not. That’s what we’re here to do is try to win. We’re not going to come here and just try to finish top-five.” WILL A GOOD DAY FOR YOU BE A TOP-15 FINISH? “No, I think a top-10 day will be a good day for us and anything less will probably be a disappointment.”