Reed Sorenson qualified 22nd for Sunday's Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500. Credit: Autostock

Busch regulars earn their revenge at Atlanta

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Busch Series vagabonds Martin Truex Jr. and Reed Sorenson looked anything but out of place Friday night in Bud Pole Qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway, as both handily made Sunday's Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500.

For Busch point leader and defending series champion Truex, a frontstretch terminal velocity of about 200 mph could hardly be described as chillin' out.

Martin Truex Jr. had a solid top-10 qualifying effort. Credit: Autostock

But he was hardly displeased with a lap averaging 191.741 mph, despite being .326 seconds and more than two miles per hour behind Ryan Newman's 193.928 mph Bud Pole run.

"I didn't really know what to expect -- this was the first time I've qualified at night after practicing all day," Truex said. "The guys did a great job with the Bass Pro Chevy -- it was just a little too loose to go real fast but I think our race set-up is going to be real good and I'm really looking forward to Sunday."

After placing his No. 1 Monte Carlo eighth in the field Truex said he was relishing the weekend break from the rigors of battling Clint Bowyer for the Busch title.

"There are no points on the line this weekend," Truex said. "So we'll let it hang out and see what we can do.

"There's no stress this weekend about 'what are we going to do if we finish 10th -- what do we have to do to win the points?' We'll save all that until next weekend because we've come here to have some fun.

"But we still want to run good. We came here and tested and feel like we have a chance at running well. So far, it's working out good and we're just having fun with it.

"Really, we're just trying to get ready for next year, we've built some cars and shocks and stuff -- we're actually testing the car of tomorrow here on Monday and we're going to test an '06 car in the next couple weeks.

"So we're doing a lot of things to get ready for next year and hopefully this will help out a lot with that."

With three races remaining, Truex leads Bowyer by 100 points. Sorenson, 19 and a native of nearby Peachtree City, Ga., is 429 points behind in fourth and only an outside threat for the title.

Sorenson grew up in racing by dominating Legends Car events on AMS's quarter-mile frontstretch layout; and while Truex will make his eighth career Nextel Cup start on Sunday, Sorenson is making his debut from the 22nd starting position.

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And that created the wide disparity in the two young drivers' demeanors Friday evening.

"Our goal coming down here was to get in the race, and we've done that," Sorenson said. "That's the most nervous I've ever been in qualifying -- this is the biggest race in my life so far, and it has been very nerve-wracking.

"I think we came close to getting everything out of the car. I did all I could without wrecking it."

But bottom line, it gave the Cup regulars a view to the short-term future of their own series, as Truex and Sorenson plan to be part of the 2006 Nextel Cup Raybestos Rookie of the year campaign.

"We expect to run well," Truex said. "These guys put a lot of work into these cars and we're trying to get ready for next year. There's no reason we can't come here and run decent and have a good showing and build some momentum for next year.

"I think this shows everyone what they can expect next year. We all have really strong teams and a lot of the guys we've worked with on the Busch cars are here helping us, so a lot of what we've been doing all year (in the Busch Series) we can bring over here.

"Obviously it's harder because the competition is tougher and the cars are a little different, but communication is a big part of it and to have all these guys helping me, that I work with every week makes it a lot easier."

Truex and Sorenson were only a couple highlights of a nighttime qualifying sessions held in crisp temperatures in which decided underdogs Kevin Lepage (13th), Mike Skinner (15th), Johnny Benson (19th) and Carl Long (20th) all posted top-20 efforts.

And while Bobby Hamilton (26th) and Chad Chaffin (31st) made gutsy runs to get into the race, Busch regular J.J. Yeley (33rd) and MB2 Motorsports part-timer Boris Said (34th) both out-qualified Chase for the Nextel Cup contender Rusty Wallace -- along with 13 other Cup regulars.

But neither made the show because they were beaten by too many cars that had to get into the race based on their qualifying speed, with all 14 of the regulars they outran locked into the field based on their top 35 standings in the points.