FORT WORTH, Texas -- Max Papis and Germain Racing have made a quantum leap in 2009 as the Italian racing veteran seeks to consummate his dream of racing in NASCAR.

Papis proved just how much he's improved as he easily qualified Friday for the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, locking his No. 13 Toyota into the field in 39th. The more telling stat was that Papis improved a full second over the time he logged last November when he failed to make the fall Texas event.

Friday at Texas, Papis spent much of the 90-minute practice in the top 10, including stretches in the top five; before ending up 18th.

"We are still very much on a learning curve, both me and the team, and this is only the second time I've tried to put it into the show this year while the other guys have been at all the other tracks," Papis said. "So we have to put in a lot of work at the shop. MWR [Michael Waltrip Racing] and my engineer Ryan Coniam have been spending hours and hours doing simulation."

Papis, whose first of three CART Indy car victories came on the oval at Homestead-Miami Speedway, made his first two Sprint Cup starts on road courses in 2008; but badly failed to make the two oval races he attempted at the end of the season.

One of those came at Texas, where his qualifying attempt was in 29.97 seconds, 1.32 seconds off the pole and in 47th place. On Friday, Papis' improvement was stark as his run was in 28.95 seconds, just .61 seconds behind pole winner David Reutimann.

Papis said his goal was to compare himself with the three MWR drivers, Reutimann, Marcos Ambrose and the team owner, who he considers his teammates.

"My reference point, in one way is Marcos Ambrose, because he's a [Sprint Cup] rookie like me," Papis said. "I'm trying to gap the two-and-a-half to three years experience he has in Truck and Nationwide in the 18 Cup races I have this year and the six Truck races. It's not easy and I'm putting every single moment that I have of my life into this; sharing the time in the Cup car with my family, in the best way that I can." (Continued)