Martin Truex Jr. ended the season on an up note, with a career-best second-place finish in the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images/Todd Warshaw)

"It's been an up-and-down year," said Truex, 2005 Busch Series champion. "It seemed like nothing would ever go right, and we just had a really bad string of luck.

"The last few months, we've been running really good and being real consistent. It feels good to finally finish that off and not get a flat tire or break a wheel bearing or do something stupid.

"It just took us a while to build up a notebook and confidence and that set of things we could use each week. For a long time there, we were just shooting in the dark. Once we got that, we just got on a roll, and our cars have been running really good ever since.

Although the results don't show it, David Gilliland, Robert Yates's rookie driver penciled to run full-time in the No. 38 next season, was encouraged by his run, which showed the improvement in the Yates equipment.

Yates this weekend hinted strongly that he'd stay with two cars next season, even with Dale Jarrett's and UPS' departures from the No. 88. Sources say Mars Candy, sponsor of the No. 38, will expand its presence to cover the No. 88 as well.

Gilliland ran in the top five or six until Lap 173, when he scraped the wall, damaging the right-rear of his car. "I got in the center [of two other cars], and it felt like I had no air on the rear spoiler and around it went," he said.

"Being the new guy coming in is tough. I haven't seen many of these race tracks before. Next year, we're going to run 25 Busch races, and I think that will help cut down on my learning curve."