One of the many cars attempting to race their way in to Sunday's Daytona 500, the Furniture Row Racing team is optimistic heading into Thursday's Gatorade Duel 150.  Driver Regan Smith posted the ninth-fastest time in Wednesday's final drafting practice, the fastest of the go-or-go-home cars.

"The chassis handling is obviously key for Daytona," crew chief Jay Guy told HardcoreRaceFans.com. "We've been working on a lot of front spring, bump stop combinations, we finally found one he liked and is drivable. Its just a little bit tight."

Smith will start Thursday's second Gatorade Duel 150 from the seventh-spot. During Sunday's qualifying session, Smith posted the 14th-fastest time of the session, but was unable to lock himself into the show. The next fastest of the go-or-go-home cars Smith's has a great chance of making the show  on time if he does not race his way in.

"A lot of what we do in the second race tomorrow is dependent on what the 21 [Bill Elliott] and the 14 [Tony Stewart] do in the first race," Guy went on to say. "If they make it in we're going to race a bit more cautiously, but we're still going to race and try and get a good start for the 500."

The team could not have a better driver in their corner heading into Thursday's Duels. A talented driver, Smith proved last October in Talladega he knows what it takes to win. Coming to the checkered flag, Smith made his move on Tony Stewart for the win going through the tri-oval. Smith completed the pass, took the checkered flag first, but was penalized after making the move on Stewart by going below the yellow line.

"Regan was a rookie last year, but I felt like he had a couple of years seasoned on him already," Guy said of the team's new driver. "He's an experienced racer, he has great feedback and he knows what he wants in a car and that makes my job a lot easier."

Running only twelve races this season, Furniture Row Racing has been forced to cutback their schedule  during these tough economic times. By accepting their fate and limiting their resources, this team has shown up ready to go.

"[Other teams] know that we're a full-time team that because of economic situation had to cut back," Guy went on to say. "They accept us and they want us to do well. A lot of guys are pulling for us because they know what we're facing. We've had to cut back about half of our work force. We'll just see what we can do and try and get the Furniture Row car in the show."

Be sure to check back to HardcoreRaceFans.com to see how the Furniture Row Racing team and all the others required to race their way into the Daytona 500 fare in Thursday's Gatorade Duel 150s.