For Wood Brothers, home is where the pressure is (cont'd)

"Coming to Martinsville is like coming home," Wood said. "I'm going to eat some hot dogs. I can remember coming here when I was like 8 years old, with my dad racing modifieds. It goes way back. I remember when there was grass in [the infield], and they had a pond out there with a bunch of ducks. They had a zillion ducks over there. This place has been good to us. It's just like going home."

Michael McSwain feels the same way. The former crew chief and current director of competition for the Wood Brothers grew up in western North Carolina, but has always felt a connection to Martinsville.

"To me personally, this has always been my Daytona 500," he said. "I've never won it. I've finished in the top five with some different drivers, I don't know how many times, and something's always happened. I like running good here. I put a lot of emphasis on this racetrack, and have for years. I just want to keep running good."

Schrader tested at Caraway Speedway in Asheboro, N.C., in preparation for Sunday's event, and the team worked exclusively on qualifying setups Friday, knowing all the focus had to be on making the race. But a fourth-place starting position was more than anyone had hoped for.

"I'd have been happy with 43rd," Wood said. "I didn't want to leave here. I didn't want to be in Stuart watching Happy Hour on TV. I didn't want that."

Schrader was 25th-fastest in Saturday's first practice, but improved to 17th in the final session. McSwain said setups usually vary little at Martinsville between qualifying and the race, leading him to believe that Friday's performance is an accurate indication of what the car is capable of Sunday. Wood sees an additional benefit to starting up front.

"Short-track racing, if you can qualify up front and stay there -- I'm talking about the top eight to 12 positions -- they race different there," he said. "Those people make laps. They're courteous. You get to the end, and then they race. You get back into the jungle, from 20th on back, they race every lap like it's the last lap. You use it up just trying to survive. So starting up front will help. If we can have good pit stops and not have any problems, we could have a good day."