Reed Sorenson (13th) posted the best time by a Raybestos Rookie in Saturday’s final practice session for the Dickies 500. The rest of the class: Martin Truex Jr. (25th), Denny Hamlin (27th), Clint Bowyer (28th), David Stremme (30th) and J.J. Yeley (33rd).

REED SORENSON, No. 41 TARGET/KRAFT DODGE: “It’s really good. Actually, it gets just a tad bit quicker when it runs. We’re really happy with it. I’m thinking we can get a good run with it.” WILL TRACK CONDITIONS CHANGE A LOT FOR THE RACE? “I don’t know. For me, I think I’d be better off if the sun came out. Hopefully the sun will come out. We’ll see.” DO YOU GET A SENSATION OF SPEED HERE? “Oh yeah, it’s fast. It’s really fast. But that’s Texas for you. But if the sun comes out it’ll definitely slow down a little bit and once we run 50-lap runs it will slow down, too.” WHAT DOES YOUR CAR NEED TO DO HERE IN TRAFFIC? “Turn good. Just got to make sure you get it turning good where you can get center-off. Hopefully the pace will slow down enough where entry won’t be too big of a deal. It will just be center-off.” WILL THE BUSCH RACE HELP YOU FOR TOMORROW’S CUP RACE? “I don’t know, maybe. We’ll see. Maybe, maybe not [smiles].”

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER BOATS CHEVROLET: YOU WERE SIXTH IN THE FIRST PRACTICE BUT STRUGGLED IN HAPPY HOUR. “The car’s still good, I think. We tried a bunch of stuff, I should say, for the second practice and it didn’t like it too much. I kind of went back to where we ended the first practice which we thought we were really, really good. And in our 16th lap we ran our fastest lap of that practice. So yeah, the car’s still good. The track did change a lot. It got a lot slicker but I feel like when we went back to where we ended the first practice really good we got a pretty good car. It’s not super-fast on the get-go, but it’s a good long run car like last week. I still don’t think it’s as good as it should be. It’s not as good as what I had last week. I still don’t like the feel of this race car. We ran it one other time and it kind of did the same deal. It’s pretty quick and the times look good. It just doesn’t have that feel that I’m looking for right now.” IF THERE IS RAIN BETWEEN NOW AND THE START OF THE RACE, DOES THAT THROW ALL THE NOTES FROM TODAY’S PRACTICE OUT THE WINDOW? “No, because they’re going to have the Busch race today. If it rains after the Busch race, the first 100-150 laps of the race will be kind of weird or different.” HOW FAST IT TOO FAST AT THIS PLACE? “As fast as they will let us go. We’ll keep going faster if they let us. That’s just what we do. This place is one of those places that does feel pretty quick, especially in qualifying trim. You’re not out of the gas very long. As fast as they’ll let us go, we’ll go.” IF NASCAR WANTED TO CUT THE SPEEDS, ARE RESTRICTOR PLATES AN OPTION? “I don’t think so because then you’re just going to run faster through the corner. You’re going to be slower on the straightaway but you’ll be faster in the corner so that doesn’t really do what it’s supposed to do. That doesn’t really slow you down. I’m just a dumb driver. I have no idea but I don’t think the plate would be a good idea.”

KEVIN MANION, CREW CHIEF, No. 1 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER BOATS CHEVROLET: ARE THE SPEEDS TO FAST HERE? IS THAT A FAIR QUESTION? “The car can handle it. I watched the truck race last night. I’m not sure what lap speeds they run but it seemed like they had some tire issues. All I know is that I was sitting on top of the truck yesterday and I’m saying to myself ‘Man, these cars are fast.’ They just look fast. Some places they don’t look fast. Here they look fast to me. I know I’m not a driver and could not be a driver because of maybe the speeds but it’s for sure they look fast. I don’t know if they’re too fast. We do get faster and faster but how do you fix it? Hopefully not a restrictor plate. There’s probably something they could do to slow us up a little and I think they’ve made a fair bet on it for next year with that Car of Tomorrow. At least maybe they’ll feel safer while they’re in it. We’re adding foam and all kinds of stuff to that car. These mile-and-a-half cars surely get it done here.” WOULD A RESTRICTOR PLATE WORK HERE? “I think it would slow it down. I just think it would take the racing out of it. Maybe a different tire or something they could do. I think you’re going to see a really good race tomorrow. The weather conditions are ideal for fast racing. The second practice there, the track temp was up eight or nine degrees and the speeds were down considerably from first practice to second practice. A day race in the hot run, I wouldn’t worry about it. A night race when the speeds are up, I’d worry about it.”