Raybestos Rookie Martin Truex Jr. posted the 11th best time in the final practice session for the Subway Fresh 500, best among the NEXTEL Cup Series rookie class.

The rest of the class: Reed Sorenson (17th), David Stremme (21st), Brent Sherman (22nd), Denny Hamlin (32nd), J.J. Yeley (34th) and Clint Bowyer (38th).

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER BOATS CHEVROLET: ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE CAR? “Yeah, we made some improvements there from the first practice and towards the end of that one we got better. It’s not quite where I think it needs to be. The track is real slick still and it’s kind of hard to tell what it’s going to do tomorrow night, but we got it better. We made some improvements. It’s just hard to get grip out there right now.” YOU PRACTICE IN THE HEAT OF DAY AND RACE AT NIGHT. DOES THAT MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE HERE? “I only ran one time here at night and that was in the Busch car here last year and it changed a whole lot for us. We were kind of loose in and loose off all day and tight in the center. We’ve kind of being trying to get the tight in the center fixed and hope the loose in the other spots goes away at nighttime. If you’re tight, you’re going to get killed. If you’re a little loose here and there, you’ll be all right. We’re just trying to get it role through the center a little better than it is and hope the dark fixes the loose in the other two spots.” WHAT IS THE CRITICAL PART OF THE TRACK? “Getting into 1 is pretty tricky. It seems like it’s gotten a lot bumpier than it’s been in the past for some reason, at least for me. I’ve been pretty loose getting in there for some reason, so that’s been a little tough on me. Getting through the center of 3 and 4 is always tricky. It’s always slick and flat down there and that’s where the good cars are fast through the center. We’ve just been trying to work on that and make our car drive good.” HOW MUCH OF A FACTOR WILL THE GLARE OF THE SUN BE AT THE START OF THE RACE? “Definitely, it’s pretty tough to see here. I know at the end of the Busch races last year it was it was like that and it was a little tough. You put some tape on the windshield and hope the lights come on a little earlier than they’re supposed to [smiles]. I’ll probably run a real light tinted shield on my helmet and have some tape on my windshield for the sun and then should be good to go when the lights come on.” IT APPEARS THAT THE TEAM IS GETTING BETTER EVERY WEEK. “Absolutely. We’re starting to get to the point where we’ve got some things that we know work for us; the direction to go when practice starts. We’re not just swinging in the dark. We’ve at least got something there that we can look back on. We’ve got some notes from some other tracks and some things that have been working for us and we’ve been able to bring them to each track. It’s just taking us a little time to learn them. We learned a little bit more this afternoon in practice and if that trend continues we’ll keep getting better and before you know it, we’ll be up there challenging to win a race.”