Sauter

We were forced to drive a back-up car in the race last weekend in Bristol, Tenn., after a wreck during qualifying. We were, however, able to overcome the problems to notch our sixth top-10 finish of the season with a 10th-place run.

Our car was real fast in the first practice prior to qualifying. Following practice, I had high hopes of a good starting position, which is critical at Bristol.

During qualifying, I was coming off Turn 2 when the car bobbled after crossing the bump in the track. I was going for a good qualifying run, so I stayed in the gas and almost had it saved. But, I couldn't hold on. I hit the wall. That was a hard hit, too. The car was really good. I felt like I would post a lap good enough for a top-five starting position, but we'll never know now. However, the back-up car was the car I drove at Pikes Peak several weeks ago, so I knew it was good. But, having to start 37th would be a tough chore at Bristol.

I knew starting from the back I would have to work my way up through a tough field of cars with the goal of staying on the lead lap and dodging all the accidents that would surely happen to get in position for a good finish for the Quality Farm Stores team.

Early in the race, on lap six, I just missed a spinning Michael Waltrip in Turn 2.

On Lap 25, I had moved up to the 26th position. It was apparent early in the race that the car was real strong. But, working traffic on the tight high banks of Bristol was going to be a tough assignment.

On Lap 50, we moved into the top-20. I had to stay on my toes to avoid several accidents as five caution flags flew during that time.

We made our first pit stop on Lap 103 under a caution. Even though we had to pit on the backstretch, the pit crew did a great job to maintain our track position.

The final 50 laps were filled with wild, typical Bristol action. Four cautions kept the field bunched closely together as we all jockeyed for position. I had a very close call on lap 214 when three lead cars spun exiting Turn 4. With the entire field behind them, cars spun down the frontstretch as nearly every driver attempted to miss the wreckage. I was able to dodge the accident and move into the 13th position.

As the laps wound down, I worked my way around Jimmie Johnson, then, Greg Biffle toward the top-10. Then, with two laps remaining, I was able to get underneath Kevin Grubb and capture the 10th position. I had to hold off the late charge of Mike Skinner, Johnson and Grubb to post a 10th-place finish.

We gained two positions in the overall Busch standings and now stand in 15th.

The next stop for us is our second visit of the season to Darlington, S.C., at the Darlington Raceway this Saturday. We had engine problems there in the spring and didn't get the kind of finish we were hoping for, but we have confidence going in that we had a good racecar and a good set-up before our engine problems, so we have reason to believe we should be real competitive this time around.

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.