DOVER, Del. -- For Kurt Busch, Saturday's two practices at Dover International Speedway kept him on track to maintain the strong start he feels is critical in the Chase. But for Juan Montoya, it was akin to continuing a sleepwalking dream.

Chase leader Mark Martin, on the other hand, proved that he'd be a threat in Sunday's AAA 400 by logging the best average lap time in 49 final practice laps, a 24.11-second effort. David Gilliland averaged a 24.04-second lap, but his TRG Motorsports Chevrolet made only 11 laps and plans to start-and-park.

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Of course, they'll all have to deal with Dover's most recent Cup winner, three-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. Johnson was fastest in Friday's practice and won the pole. Then Johnson was fourth and fifth, respectively, in Saturday's two sessions.

Busch, who's fifth in the championship, hopes his breakthrough year in the new car at Dover continues, following a fifth-place finish here in the summer. He was quickest in the day's first practice before slipping, late in Happy Hour, to seventh.

"It's the second race in the Chase and one of the keys to winning the championship in the Chase format is getting off to a strong start," said Busch, who finished sixth at New Hampshire. "This being the second race, it's obviously important to get out there and run strong and get those bonus points if you have a chance to do so, which is to lead a lap or lead the most laps.

"Of course, getting a nice solid finish is obviously the ultimate goal. To be running [strong] recently and to have a nice solid run like we did back here in June, we feel that our chances are great this weekend."

The biggest stumbling block Busch might have is a mediocre 16th-place qualifying run, and he hopes the early stages of the race include a few cautions.

"With these cars, it's sometimes difficult to pass other guys when you're running side-by-side with them," Busch said. "When they drop the green on a restart is the best time to take advantage of [passing cars]. Long runs are starting to be less and less important, so that's why gearing up for restarts is going to work in your favor when you do it."

Montoya, who was quickest in every on-track session last weekend at New Hampshire before finishing third in his first Chase race, continued his hot streak at Dover. After practicing third and qualifying second Friday, Montoya was second in both Saturday sessions.

“

Of course, getting a nice solid finish is obviously the ultimate goal. To be running [strong] recently and to have a nice solid run like we did back here in June, we feel that our chances are great this weekend.

”

-- KURT BUSCH

Montoya, who's fourth in the championship, said he had no dread for the "Monster Mile" as he prepared his No. 42 Chevrolet.

"I'll tell you, this has probably been one of the easiest tracks for me because it actually has a lot of grip," Montoya said. "So you can actually feel like you are driving the car like what I was used to [in open-wheel cars]. This is the closest feeling I get."

Busch was among those who questioned the "feel" of his No. 2 Dodge, and with it what impact Goodyear's tire combination would have on Sunday's second race in the sixth annual Chase.

"Our [car] has a tough feel to it right now," Busch said. "It's not driving very easy, but we're fast. I think what the car is telling me is that this new tire is asking for the drivers to get up on the wheel and drive hard. I can't quite find the right balance, but it showed speed at the beginning of a run. We need to show speed at the end."

Dodge was enthused about Kasey Kahne stepping up to post the fastest speed in Happy Hour, ironically running the older, R5 engine package. Kahne's Chase hopes took a hit when he broke an R6 engine early in the race at New Hampshire. In qualifying Friday, Richard Petty Motorsports teammate Elliott Sadler broke the R6 engine in his No. 19 Dodge.

Sounding one last warning note was Greg Biffle, who was sixth in the day's opening session and sixth in Happy Hour.

"This tire is really proposing a lot of trouble for us, and we're just super-loose and having troubles getting a hold of the race track -- I think everybody is," Biffle said. "It's going to be the guy that can drive it for [400] miles. It's hard right now. They should've left the tire alone. There was nothing wrong with the old one."

Both Saturday practices were incident-free, but a forecast for heavy rain Saturday night and early Sunday morning created some concern.

"It will change the track for sure," Busch said. "What it will do is make the track go into a bigger mood swing [Sunday] because it will start off fresh when we do race and then it will rubber-in with 43 cars out there and everybody getting fresh tires. So the track will go through a bigger mood swing. It won't be as consistent from [Saturday] until [Sunday]."