News and Media Releases

Number One Qualifying Spot

19/07/2009

Quaker State Driver Makes it to the Final Round before Taking Loss

The NHRA Funny Car Series headed to Pacific Raceways near Seattle, Washington for the 22nd annual NHRA Northwest Nationals. Coming off a solid qualifying run in Denver, the Quaker State team was looking to redeem their performance in the elimination rounds where they lost in the second round ending their day early.

Racing action began on Friday with the first two rounds of qualifying. Once again Pedregon and the Quaker State team put in a solid performance taking the provisional number one spot by the end of the day. Just missing taking over the number one spot after his first run, the Brownsburg, Indiana native made it look easy in his second pass when he went right around the leader with both the low ET and top speed for his class.

Saturday's qualifying session proved to be just as successful for Pedregon as he remained in the top spot for the final two rounds. With four consistent runs over the two qualifying days, the two-time champion was set to take on the competition in Sunday's eliminations.

The Quaker State driver took the win in the first two rounds of eliminations defeating Grant Downing in his first pass and Ashley Force Hood in the second round.
A semi-final match-up with John Force saw the Quaker State driver pull away first at the green and then build a huge lead taking the win. In what was a close final round, Pedregon just fell short losing to Tim Wilkerson but ending his day with a solid effort.

The NHRA Funny Car Series will wrap up their three-race West Coast swing with the final event at Infineon Raceway this coming weekend. Qualifying rounds for the Fram Autolite NHRA Nationals in Sonoma, California begin on Friday, July 24 with eliminations rounds set for Sunday, July 26.