I was reminded this weekend why Texas Motor Speedway is my favorite track on the NASCAR Busch Series schedule. We came away with a third-place finish, the best of my two-year Busch career. My previous best finish had been fourth at Daytona to start last season.

We were confident the Quality Farm & Country Chevrolet would be strong and that we would be gunning for our best finish of the 2001 season.

	Jay Sauter currently sits in 11th place in the Busch points standings.

Last year, we actually led at Texas before we were involved in an accident with a lapped car. And, in my career in the NASCAR truck series, we had won two poles and had a victory in three seasons. We felt we had all the ingredients assembled to have a great weekend.

We qualified in the 11th position Thursday afternoon with a speed of 186.690 mph.

On Friday, during happy hour, the entire weekend flashed before my eyes. An engine problem surfaced early in the practice session and left me in a cloud of smoke sitting on pit road. A broken piston was the culprit. That would force us to make an engine change before the race. Even worse, we only got 13 laps of practice in race trim.

It's unfortunate that we had the motor problem. But, it's better to happen in happy hour than during the race. Even though I only got 13 laps of practice, I knew that I had a good car for the race.

During the race, we were able to gain ground quickly. A strong car -- combined with great pit stops -- vaulted us to compete in the top-five for much of the race.

A nervous moment happened on lap 54 when Jeff Green spun coming out of Turn 4. We were running just behind him on the low groove. Fortunately, we were able to avoid a collision that would have certainly set us back.

We ran a good, consistent race and earned a third-place finish. Plus, we were able to gain five positions in the overall Busch Series points to put us in the 11th spot after seven races.

Saturday we showed what this team is capable of. It's all about hard work and consistency. The pit crew busted off great pit stops all afternoon. Every stop was under 17 seconds and that enabled me to stay up front. Gene (Nead, crew chief) made great calls in the pits and we just kept making minor adjustments during the race to get better and better.

Our third-place finish is a total team effort and gives us momentum to carry into Nashville in two weeks after a week.

Jay Sauter drives the No. 43 car in the NASCAR Busch Series Grand National Division and will be submitting a weekly diary to ESPN.com throughout the season.