Scott Speed continued his impressive start to the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season with a 10th-place finish in Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The sophomore driver was able to move up to 12th in the series standings after his fourth-straight solid run of the season, and with his teammate Brian Vickers coming home seventh, it marked the third best combined finish for the Team Red Bull.
Only the duo's eighth and fifth place finishes at Talladega last April topped the performance Sunday in Atlanta.
"Wooooo … Great job. Freaking awesome," Speed said over the radio. "Really, really great. Holy crap. Unbelievable. So proud of everyone. What an effort."
The race's pair of overtime finishes allowed Speed to work his way up through traffic as the end came closer, and Speed said it wasn't an easy task getting to the front of the field.
"We kind of had to dog fight our way up there," Speed said. "We were running sort of between 10th and 15th the last half of the race. To be dog fighting up there and to be able to scrounge and make really big aggressive moves on my part and to be able to see the thing go forward, that is huge for us. This top 10 means a lot."
After struggling through his rookie campaign, Speed came into the 2010 season with a bit of pressure to succeed. While Vickers won a race last season and made the Chase, Speed flirted with the Top 35 line for much of the year.
But, the start of this season has seen marked improvement including Speed leading at both Daytona and Fontana. It's made a world of difference in Speed's attitude and confidence level.
"I'm so happy with all of the progress we've all made, and I know how much still I have to learn so I'm really optimistic for the future," he said.
