Notebook: Accident doesn't lessen Gordon's resolve (cont'd)

Truex steps up for JR

Two-time series champion Martin Truex Jr. will compete in the No. 5 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports in the Nationwide Series race next weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, joining a list of top-tier drivers who have driven or will drive the car this year.

Truex is a 13-time series race winner who won series titles in 2004 and 2005 for Chance2, a team co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Teresa Earnhardt. Truex's first victory came in the very race in which he'll compete for JR Motorsports next weekend, the 2004 spring event at Bristol.

In 94 series starts, Truex has earned 37 top-five finishes, 57 top-10s and 10 pole positions.

This will mark the fourth time Truex will drive a JR Motorsports entry He scored a pair of top-10 finishes in three starts for JRM in 2006.

"We are extremely happy to have Martin in the No. 5 National Guard Chevrolet at Bristol, and we want to thank DEI for allowing him to drive for us," said Kelley Elledge, vice president and general manager at JR Motorsports and Earnhardt Jr.'s sister. "Martin is a great friend to Dale Jr., and he is a tremendous talent. Every time he climbs in a racecar, he has a chance to win."

"I have to thank JR Motorsports, DEI and the National Guard for letting me drive this racecar," Truex said. "With track time so important, driving the National Guard car on Saturday can only help me in the Bass Pro Shops car on Sunday, so this is a deal that hopefully will benefit everyone.

"Obviously Bristol is a special place for me. I won my first [Busch Series] race there, and it would be really cool to win again."

Biffle saves run

Former Atlanta winner Greg Biffle was none too pleased after his qualifying run, but he was pleased to bring his No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford back alive.

Want more? Get inside the walls of Roush Fenway Racing.

• More

"I've got a really fast car," Biffle said. "That just goes to show you, I came all the way out of the gas and touched the fence and had to just throw away that lap and try for the second lap and that was still 12th-quick, so I've got a really, really fast car.

"The track was just a little goofy [Friday] -- we just didn't get a hold of it. We were afraid of being too loose and we were too tight on our qualifying runs. We thought the track would come to us without freeing it up and it didn't really come to us enough, but now we know.

"We learned something."

Woods' devastating season continues

Wood Brothers Racing and Bill Elliott once again experienced the agony of a DNQ, the third this season for the Woods' famous No. 21 Ford in four attempts.

"It's just a really frustrating deal," Georgia native Elliott said. "I'm really at a loss because the guys are working so hard and we just can't seem to get things figured out. I really hate it for the Wood Brothers because they're such great people, but all we can do is go back to the shop and try to get better.

"We'll go to Bristol next week and give it another shot."

Junior not sure about Sunday

Even though Dale Earnhardt Jr. loves Atlanta Motor Speedway, he's not positive Sunday could the best race yet on the 1.5-mile oval.

"Well I don't know about that," Junior said. "They changed the tire and it's really slick and we're going around the corner pretty slow. I think it will be [more fun] for drivers to race like that without grip, but I believe it will be harder to make passes [because] a lot of guys running around the top where there's grip and being forced to run there because it's hard to pass on the bottom.

"It's a fun track, drivers love it. Everybody always says how great it is and it is -- it's a great racetrack. It's a shame it's not as popular with the fans and there's not grandstands down that back straightaway like there should be, full every weekend because that's how much we enjoy it.

"That's kind of frustrating. It's one of my favorite tracks, and I hate hearing all the time that it may lose a date or whatever and if there was a way a track was going to change dates Atlanta would be on that short list of tracks that might lose one or get moved and that's frustrating to hear [because] it's a great place to race."