Notes: Sorenson earns best career finish at home track

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Reed Sorenson was elated to garner his career best finish in his own backyard during Sunday's Cup race in Atlanta.

"We had a good feeling about this weekend before we even unloaded the car," said Sorenson, a Peachtree, Ga. native who finished third, running up front most of the day after wheeling around a string of race-changing wrecks.

A disastrous crash resulted on Lap 322 when the No. 11 of Denny Hamlin ran out of gas and forced the field to slam on the brakes. Cars were parting left and right around the No. 11, however, Chase contender Martin Truex Jr. smashed square into the back of Hamlin.

Sorenson went low; his No. 41 Dodge avoided the melee and gained one more position.

"We made it through that," he said. "We restarted fourth and went off into [Turn] 1 ready to race for another two laps and then [Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s] tire fell off. It got pretty crazy there at the end, as everybody could see."

Sunday marks Sorenson's fifth top-10 finish of the season.

"We had a good car here in the spring too," he added. "It has been a good track for us. This is where we got our first top 10 finish last year too."

Sorenson said he hopes to take his momentum to Texas this weekend.

That's gonna leave a mark

Early in the race, Mark Martin was sidelined after a hard hit with the No. 38 of David Gilliland (watch video).

Out of the car, the veteran Cup driver took full responsibility.

Gilliland lost control after he ran out of room trying to pass lapped cars and then slid down the track where Martin slammed into him.

Martin said he should've been able to avoid the wreck.

"I told David I should have missed him," Martin said. "You're going too fast and I couldn't see him in the smoke and I really didn't feel comfortable driving into the smoke not knowing where he was. So, I tried to get under him and he came out of the smoke coming to the inside."

Gilliland admitted the hit was one of the harder ones he's endured this season and is thankful for industry safety standards and advancements.

"Yeah I was looking inside the car at all the stuff that gets moved around when you get hit like that and it's a testament to how good everything works," he said. "I'm 100 percent fine."

Martin finished last while Gilliland finished 42.

Stewart's championship out of sight

The gate city of the South was unkind to the boy from the Midwest on Sunday.

In March, Tony Stewart nearly won the race in Atlanta, but his performance in Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500 was a stark contrast, as the Joe Gibbs Racing driver finished 30th dropping him one position in the Chase standings further diminishing hopes of winning a third championship.

More than 300 points away from Chase leader Jeff Gordon with three races left in the season, Stewart's day was plagued with engine problems.

Down the career ladder?

David Stremme is still looking for a Nextel Cup ride in 2008 but in the meantime the outgoing Chip Ganassi No. 40 driver will pilot a new Nationwide Series car for Rusty Wallace Racing.

For 17 races in the No. 64, Stremme will drive the Team Artreus Chevrolet.

Chevrolet is a new manufacturer for RWR; according to an announcement made before Sunday's Cup race in Atlanta.

"This move was a hard decision after all of the great seasons with Dodge," Wallace said. "The bottom line though, is that Chevrolet is willing to provide us with more resources to make our racecars go faster, that's what it is all about."

Wallace said it will be a homecoming of sorts.

"Some of the best runs of my career came in GM products," he said.

It is unclear how this move will impact Stremme's future, who has been a Dodge driver for the last two seasons.

New body new luck?

Kasey Kahne's No. 9 Dodge made its way to the front to lead a few laps in Sunday's race and Dodge officials said the new body may have contributed to the performance.

The team said they had good numbers out of the wind tunnel.

Kahne was indifferent as to why; he was just happy to run up front again.

"It was fun to drive a car like that again," he said. "We were one of the top three of four cars all day long. You could drive it sideways if you wanted. It was so fast. It was something that we haven't had all year."

Kahne finished ninth.