Anytime you can race at Talladega and come away from there in one piece it's a good day. To avoid the big wreck Saturday was a big break for me and helped me get the Quality Farm Stores Chevy in position for a top-10 finish. We were thrilled to have finished in the seventh position.

The big wreck that collected 15 cars created quite an anxious moment for me. On lap 87, two laps after a restart from a caution, David Green lost the outside tread from his left rear tire as he entered Turn 4. Green spun up the track and the result was a 15-car melee that eliminated almost one third of the field. We were running 14th at the time and had an excellent view of the accident as Green was racing two cars in front of me.

	Jay Sauter now sits 12th in the Busch standings.

I saw Green slide up the track and I barely had room to steer to the bottom of the track. I was just fortunate to have enough room to get through. Everything happened so fast. You really don't have time to think about your move, you just do what comes natural. I guess you need to have a little luck to get through a wreck like this also.

We drafted most of the day in the second group of cars. I found out I could draft well behind a Pontiac. That's when my brother, Tim, and I hooked up and drafted together during the middle stages of the race. We were able to move up together in the running order.

On lap 95, after a caution, we restarted the race in 10th position. I knew the final 18 laps would be full of excitement and close racing. Fortunately, we were able to maintain our position in the lead draft as other cars diced and changed lanes looking to gain position. Our spotter, Jon Chisholm, made a deal with the spotter for Kevin Grubb, who was running 11th at the time, to draft together for a few laps and make a charge for the front.

With two laps to go, we moved up to seventh with Grubb in eighth. We made a hard charge for a top-five, but we ended up posting a satisfying seventh-place finish. Fifteen cars took the flag within one second of each other. It was one of the most exciting races so far this year.

Excellent pit work by the Quality Farm & Country team also played a major role in the top-10 finish. Crew chief Gene Nead called for a two-tire change on the first pit stop and a four-tire change on the second. Both stops enabled us to maintain a strong position in the draft and challenge for a top finish in the lead pack.

The team is now in 12th position in the overall Busch points. We are only 32 points out of the top-10. All in all it was a good race to get another top-10 and also gain in the points.

Now, it's California here we come. We will be racing in a Morton Salt-decorated car for the first of six races this year.

I've always managed to run well at California, so I'm looking forward to this weekend. Last year, I had a mechanical problem in qualifying and had to start in the rear, but I had a strong car and was able to work my way into a top-10 finish.

This team has a great deal of momentum going to California. We could have had three straight top tens, maybe even a win, if the debris hadn't ruined our day at Nashville. The guys on this Quality Farm Stores/Morton Salt team have really busted their tails getting this car ready for this week. This race team just keeps getting better and better. The pit stops have been great, and Gene has done an excellent job calling the races.

Now, we want to go to California and add another top-10 finish on our resume.

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.