Montoya proving win was no fluke with solid practice (cont'd)

Saturday's practice only gave them more reason for optimism.

"For the first time here, Juan's been pretty quick in practice," Wingo said. "The car's pretty good."

Montoya said starting from near the front -- he'll be on the inside of the third row, alongside Dale Earnhardt Jr. for Sunday's race -- should give him a strong chance to finish there as well.

"I think it shows where the team wants to go," Montoya said. "We're working pretty hard -- the whole team, the whole organization. It's nice to see us get pumped up about getting good results. I think just shows how hard we've been trying.

"It was tough the last few weeks [before the win at Sonoma]. I think whether we won last week or not, we were making progress. It really shows the team is heading in the right direction; we're getting more competitive every week. As time goes by we're just going to get better. I think it's good to see."

Rounding out the top ten in Happy Hour on Saturday were Ryan Newman (126.505), Tony Stewart (126.505), pole-sitter Dave Blaney (126.479), Jeff Burton (126.454) and Martin Truex Jr. (126.446).

Wingo said Montoya's win at Sonoma not only helped the confidence of their No. 42 Dodge team, but that of every race team at Chip Ganassi Racing.

"It doesn't just go to one race team; it goes through the entire organization -- all three teams and the Busch teams," Wingo said. "It gives everybody an outlook that we can do it. We've seen it done. We can do it.

"We've still got to get more consistent. We've got to consistently run more in the top 10, then more in the top five. Then you put yourself in position to win races like we did last week."