Where's Juan? Atlanta

After a dismal qualifying effort which saw Juan Montoya start the Subway 500 at Martinsville in the 26th position, the team made the adjustments necessary to get Montoya to the front and the No. 42 Dodge team left Virginia with an eighth-place finish, giving Montoya his sixth top-10 on the season.

"We had a good day," Montoya said. "We worked on the Texaco/Havoline Dodge and couldn't get where we wanted to be, but I think in general it was a great day.

"A top-10 here, it's a big deal. This was pretty good for a short track. We did the ultimate. We qualified bad, raced well and that is what you need to do. We were stronger on the shorter runs, but managed to keep up."

For just the second time this season, Montoya led a lap in a Cup race as he held the lead at Martinsville for nine laps before contact with Dale Earnhardt Jr. bumped him from the top spot.

On Sunday, Montoya returns to Atlanta for the Pep Boys Auto 500 (1 p.m. ET, ABC), In the spring race at Atlanta, the rookie posted his first top-five finish in the Cup Series.