Ken Schrader says he is more than ready to take the next step up.
Schrader, starting from the pole in Sunday's CMT 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway, has had a pretty good, if unspectacular, season.But he still hasn't broken into the top 10 in the Winston Cup standings, and the 42-year-old hasn't won a race in NASCAR's top stock car series since June of 1991 at Dover, Del.
"We buried ourselves in a fairly big hole to start the season," Schrader said. "We've been trying hard to dig out, and we've been making some progress."
In the first 16 races of the season - his first with Andy Petree's Skoal Chevrolet team - Schrader managed only five finishes better than 18th, including an 11th-place finish in July at Loudon.
In the last nine races, there has been a significant change, with Schrader finishing no worse than 15th and moving from 20th in the season points to 13th.
"We've figured out some things about what we were doing wrong, and Andy and the guys have made some big steps in getting us more competitive," Schrader said. "Now we've got to keep going in the right direction.
"I think we can go on that stage in New York at the end of the year (by finishing in the top 10 in the standings)," the driver added. "That would be a pretty big step for our first year together."
A win on Sunday would be a big first step for the team.
"It's a definite help if you can start up front," said Schrader.