Martin Truex Jr. finished sixth last weekend at Dover. Credit: Autostock

Truex Jr., team starting to build momentum

Strong run at Dover backed up by solid practices at Kansas

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Mostly, It has been a frustrating season for Martin Truex Jr., but the DEI rookie thinks that things might be finally turning around.

Truex finished a career-high sixth in Dover last week and backed that up with two solid practices on Saturday for Sunday's Banquet 400 (1:30 p.m. ET, NBC).

	Jimmie Johnson dominated Saturday's final practice. Credit: Autostock
	Happy Hour Speeds Banquet 400 Pos. Driver Time Speed 1. J. Johnson 31.240 172.855 2. B. Vickers 31.397 171.991 3. Sorenson 31.408 171.931 4. K. Kahne 31.410 171.920 5. J. Burton 31.411 171.914 • Complete speeds, click here • Sunday's lineup, click here

"I think [momentum] is overrated, but usually in this series, if you hit on some things that work for you, you can keep running good," said Truex.

Truex was 11th in the first practice on Saturday and 12th-best in the Happy Hour session. Only four Chase drivers (Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick) cracked the top 10 in the final practice. Johnson's lap of 172.855 mph easily led the session.

Teams practiced Saturday in warm, sunny conditions, in sharp contrast to Friday's lone practice session. Sunday's forecast promises to be even warmer. Those conditions, Truex said, will make the cars even harder to drive.

"This is a place where you are already tight to begin with," said Truex, who qualified 23rd. "This is a really tight place where you really fight turning and we just kept working on it."

After Dover, Truex is comfortably within the top 25 in the owners standings, which would guarantee he and his team considerably more purse money in 2007. Truex is gunning for back-to-back top-10s this weekend for the first time in the Nextel Cup Series.

"Well, that would be nice. We have been trying to do that all year but it has not seemed to work out," said Truex, who is fourth in the rookie standings.

Truex's No. 1 Chevrolet has suffered from inconsistency all season, but Truex said that crew chief Kevin "Bono" Manion has found some things that might stop that trend.

"Bono seems like he has really stepped it up the past few weeks since Richmond," said Truex. "We have been doing really well. Qualifying has gotten a lot better, and racing has gotten a lot better."