Elliott Sadler and Dale Jarrett have both won at Texas Motor Speedway. Credit: Autostock

Yates troops hope to end Roush dominance

Jarrett, Sadler both among top three in final practice at Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Whenever the Nextel Cup Series heads to Texas Motor Speedway, you can bet you'll hear plenty about Roush Racing. After all, it has won five TMS races, including the two most recent events.

Mark Martin led Saturday's final practice. Credit: Autostock

Happy Hour Speeds Samsung/RadioShack 500 Pos. Driver Time Speed 1. M. Martin 29.084 185.669 2. E. Sadler 29.190 184.995 3. D. Jarrett 29.219 184.811 4. R. Gordon 29.243 184.660 5. Kyle Busch 29.252 184.603 6. K. Petty 29.259 184.559 7. Kurt Busch 29.272 184.477 8. D. Stremme 29.290 184.363 9. R. Sorenson 29.296 184.326 10. M. Kenseth 29.300 184.300 • Complete Speeds, click here • Race Lineup, click here

However, Robert Yates Racing has won twice in the Lone Star State -- and it appears poised to make a run at a third trip to Victory Lane.

Elliott Sadler and Dale Jarrett were second and third, respectively in Saturday's final preparations for Sunday's Samsung/RadioShack 500. Sadler clocked in at 29.190 seconds, an average speed of 184.995 mph. Jarrett posted 29.219/184.811.

Mark Martin -- from Roush Racing -- led the session at 29.084/185.669.

Sadler won at Texas in 2004 and Jarrett visited Victory Lane there in 2001. For Sadler, the 1.5-mile Texas track just feels right.

"Certain tracks fit certain driving styles and Texas has always fit my driving style from the very first lap I took here," Sadler said. "I understand it. I think I know what I need my car to feel like to be competitive and successful on Sunday, and I just have fun here.

"It is a very fun racetrack and it gets better each and every year as it gets older and gets a little gray."

Jarrett thinks his success at TMS is more tied to what it takes for a driver to run up front.

"Everything comes into play," Jarrett said. "This is a handling racetrack and you have to get through the corners. You know, over the years its become such a much better track to race on because we've got more than one groove in it."

For Sadler, Sunday's race presents an opportunity to keep a good thing going. After four weeks in a row of finishes outside the top 10, the No. 38 team finished sixth last week at Martinsville.

"Yeah, we're starting to build some momentum here," Sadler said. "I've been saying that the first couple weeks of racing that we were struggling a little bit and not running like we should, but we've gathered a lot of information and we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

"We're just getting into 2006 style of racecars," he said. "Last week was pretty much our first new race car other than Daytona and we've got another good one here this weekend with all the updates on it and we're running good again, so this team and this company is definitely getting better and better each week and I think our finishes are gonna definitely start to come."

Robby Gordon (29.243/184.660) and Kyle Busch (29.252/184.603) rounded out the top five in Saturday's final practice.

There were no incidents in the session.

Gibbs getting after it, too

As impressive as RYR was in final practice, Joe Gibbs Racing was as strong in Saturday morning's first practice. Rookie J.J. Yeley, who will start from the front row for the first time in his Cup career Sunday after qualifying second on Friday, led the session at 28.781/187.624.

Yeley's veteran teammate, defending Nextel Cup Series champ Tony Stewart, was second at 28.903/186.832. For Stewart, the run marked a big improvement from his qualifying session. Stewart starts Sunday's race 40th after clocking in at 29.129/185.382.

JGR's other rookie, Denny Hamlin, clocked in fourth in Saturday's early session at 28.995/186.239.

In final practice, Yeley was 21st, Hamlin 24th and Stewart was 25th.