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QUALIFYING ROUND RECAPS

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q3 (1:03 p.m.): Indy winner Eddie Krawiec wasn’t able to overtake his Harley-Davidson teammate, Andrew Hines for the top spot, but his 6.836, 195.00 was the best run of the third session which added three bonus points to his total. The Vance & Hines riders are now seeded 1-2 in the field. After an early shut-off run last night, reigning world champ Jerry Savoie returned to log a competitive 6.844, 195.70. It was not quicker than yesterday’s 6.838 pass, but it was quick enough to get two bonus points. Scotty Pollacheck also made an impressive pass at 6.950-seconds, the best Suzuki run of the round. Incoming leader Hines retained his hold on the top spot and ran a 6.862.

PRO STOCK Q3 (1:17 p.m.): Jason Line hardly looks like a driver who has been winless since the Pomona season opener. The reigning world champ picked up three bonus points after wheeling his Summit Camaro to a 6.584, 201.60 to lead the third qualifying session. Line was slightly quicker than Tanner Gray, who posted a 6.587. Gray remains the provisional low qualifier after yesterday’s 6.559-second run. Bo Butner, the incoming points leader, also grabbed a bonus point thanks to a 6.593, 209.72 run. Vincent Nobile, who shut off early on both of Friday’s runs, made a dramatic improvement with a 6.638, 208.75 run in his Mountain View Camaro.

TOP FUEL Q3 (2:05 p.m.): Just about everyone except for David Grubnic struggled to master the warm race track on Saturday afternoon. The crew chief for Clay Millican threw a solid combination into the Great Clips / Parts Plus dragster, sending it down the strip to the tune of a 3.747-second pass. That was the best of the round and gave Millican another three bonus points. He’s now pocketed six of a possible nine on the weekend and sits No. 5 in the qualifying order. Nobody else found the 3.70s, and only Tony Schumacher (3.8), Scott Palmer (3.834), and Antron Brown (3.904) made runs in the 3s.

FUNNY CAR Q3 (2:35 p.m.): Just about everyone struggled to make full passes as the track got hot on Saturday afternoon, but not 16-time champion John Force. His 3.985 didn’t move him up in the qualifying order, but it did earn him three bonus points. Alexis DeJoria grabbed a pair of bonus points by running the other 3-second pass in the session (3.992), while Ron Capps’ 4.016 rounded out the top three passes of the session. Courtney Force enters the final session as the No. 1 qualifier, while Jonnie Lindberg is surprisingly at the bottom of the heap with a 4.763. 

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q4 (4: 05 p.m.): Andrew Hines reaffirmed his spot at the top of the field with a 6.849, 196.76 in the final session. Hines is now guaranteed to lead the field for the 39th time in his career and first time this season. Hector Arana Jr. picked up a pair of bonus points thanks to his 6.857, 196.47 and Eddie Krawiec was third-best after a 6.868, 194.94. The real drama came early in the session when Charlie Sullivan ran a 7.112 to bump his way into the field. Sullivan’s run came at the expense of rookie Ron Turnow, who is making his debut this weekend. Turnow had a chance to bump his way back into the field, but got close to the wall and had to shut off before the finish line.

Round one pairings (lane choice first): Andrew Hines vs. Charlie Sullivan; Angie Smith vs. Chip Ellis; Hector Arana Jr. vs. Kelly Clontz; Scotty Pollacheck vs. Steve Johnson; Eddie Krawiec vs. Mark Paquette; Matt Smith vs. Karen Stoffer; Jerry Savoie vs. Melissa Surber; LE Tonglet vs. Joey Gladstone.

PRO STOCK Q4 (4:17 p.m.): Tanner Gray held on to the top spot in qualifying for the fourth time this season but the KB team swept the top three spots in the final session. Jason Line was quickest for the second-straight round with a 6.585, 201.37 while teammate Greg Anderson was just a tick behind with a 6.595, 209.82 and points leader Bo Butner picked up a bonus point with a 6.596, 209.43 in his Butner Auto Camaro. Alex Laughlin made one of the biggest moves of the session, putting his Gas Monkey Camaro into the top half of the field with a 6.600, 209.17.

Round one pairings (lane choice first): Tanner Gray vs. Val Smeland; Alex Laughlin vs. Erica Enders; Jason Line vs. Larry Morgan; Chris McGaha vs. Kenny Delco; Greg Anderson vs. Alan Prusiensky; Drew Skillman vs. Allen Johnson; Bo Butner vs. Shane Tucker; Jeg Coughlin Jr. vs. Vincent Nobile.

TOP FUEL Q4 (4:56 p.m.): Nobody unseated Doug Kalitta as the No. 1 qualifier, but Brittany Force grabbed three bonus points as the quickest run (3.777) of the session. She stood on her Friday night run, a theme that carried through most of the session while most of the field did their best to find a combination that will work for Sunday afternoon. Shawn Langdon (3.778) and Tony Schumacher (3.788) took the rest of the bonus points in the final session as the first qualifying stanza of the Countdown to the Championship wrapped up. 

First-round pairings (lane choice first): Doug Kalitta vs. Chris Karamesines; Steve Torrence vs. Terry Haddock; Leah Pritchett vs. Wayne Newby; Antron Brown vs. Terry McMillen; Clay Millican vs. Dom Lagana; Richie Crampton vs. Pat Dakin; Brittany Force vs. Scott Palmer; Shawn Langdon vs. Tony Schumacher.

FUNNY CAR Q4 (5:18 p.m.): After back-to-back sessions of losing traction and tire smoke, the Funny Cars found more success in the final qualifying session. Courtney Force remained in the No. 1 position with her 3.891-second pass, but Robert Hight made the best run of the session with a 3.953 pull. He was followed by Tim Wilkerson’s 3.962 and Alexis DeJoria’s 3.964. Eight cars made runs in the 3s, a far cry from the third session where only two floppers made it down quicker than 4 seconds.  

First-round pairings (lane choice listed first): Courtney Force vs. Bob Gilbertson; J.R. Todd vs. Jeff Diehl; Tommy Johnson Jr. vs. David Richards; Jack Beckman vs. Jim Campbell; Alexis DeJoria vs. Matt Hagan; Robert Hight vs. Jonnie Lindberg; Tim Wilkerson vs. Ron Capps; Cruz Pedregon vs. John Force. 

FEATURES

For the first time in his career, Terry McMillen is racing for a Mello Yello Top Fuel championship. That’s finally sinking in for the pilot of the Amalie dragster, who qualified for the Countdown to the Championship as the No. 8 seed.

“It’s been an overwhelming experience just to get there,” said McMillen. “I know for a lot of guys it’s no big deal, but for our first time it’s something we’ve tried so hard to get… and we’re here now. Now we want to go out and do some damage.”

Getting into the Countdown for the first time is the result of McMillen and crew chief Rob Wendland finding a whole bunch of consistency. Currently qualified No. 12 with a 3.86, McMillen has run as low as a 3.726 this season. 

“Ideally what we’re trying to do is get the car to repeat itself whether it’s hot out or it’s cool out,” said McMillen. “We want to go out and run in 70s in all those conditions, so that on race day you can go out there with confidence.”

Like everyone else, it’s all about the process of backing the car down: the driver of the Extermigator dragster sees a run in the 3.60s in his future. That’s an exciting prospect for a pilot who had never been in the Countdown before this year. Reaching a semifinal in Sonoma, followed by a final in Seattle, showed that steady improvement. 

Now he’ll try to continue that through the Countdown.

Doug Kalitta ended the 2016 season on a high note by taking home the Wally at the Auto Club NHRA Finals. Since then, the driver of the Mac Tools dragster has gone winless over his next 18 races. That’s the seventh-longest drought of Kalitta’s career, and the longest since he went 81 races without a win between Denver in 2010 and Dallas in 2013 without a victory. 

What’s most puzzling about this winless stretch is how well Kalitta has raced. His narrow defeats have come to a consistent stable of opponents: notably, Steve Torrence five times, Tony Schumacher three times, and Antron Brown three times. Kalitta has not beaten Torrence in any of their five meetings, while he’s picked up a win against Brown, and two against Schumacher.

“It makes you appreciate how hard everybody works,” said Kalitta, who’s the provisional No. 1 qualifier. “I’ve been working real hard at it myself, trying to cut the best lights I can. I’m hoping that I’m where I need to be and that I can have some fun here this weekend.”

After reaching the final round in Norwalk, where he lost to Torrence on a holeshot despite cutting a .062 light to the Texan’s .051. That resulted on a .004-second margin of victory for Torrence, and extended Kalitta’s drought. To give an idea of how tight a finish that is, consider this: Only 16 elimination races in Top Fuel have been decided with a “third digit” this season; meaning, a margin of victory of that starts with a decimal and two zeroes. 

Four of those have gone against Kalitta. It’s a favorite saying in racing, and in all sports, that you need to create your own luck. But boy, it’s hard to argue that the Mac Tools team isn’t among the unluckiest in NHRA Drag Racing right now. Kalitta has the fourth-best reaction times in the class, the dragster reliably gets down the track, and it just hasn’t been enough to get a Wally this season.

If they’ve been saving up their good luck: Now would be a great time to cash it in. 

After making the best run of the first session, Clay Millican and crew chief David Grubnic were ready to lay something down in the second session. Parts breakage cut the run short at 300 feet, but that didn’t stop the Parts Plus / Great Clips dragster from posting some very encouraging incremental numbers. 

Millican’s two runs had identical times to the 60-foot mark (0.828 seconds), and his 330-foot time (2.112) on his second pass matched Richie Crampton’s for the best of the day. Without that parts breakage, Millican was onto something. For those who don’t follow incremental numbers as closely as some of the number geeks, those 60-foot times stack up as the 60th best of the season in Top Fuel. That’s good.

But, as Millican is quick to point out: The cars don’t race to 300 feet. Or 60 feet. They race to 1,000 feet. Luckily for Grubnic and Millican, they’ve been darn good to that mark, too. A first-round upset went against Millican at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals two weeks ago, but the Tennessee native is as confident as ever stepping into his dragster. 

“This thing is running so good, it’s hard to not feel good,” said Millican. “The car is good, the guys are good. It just feels like we’re peaking at the right time.”

Recent performance shows Millican might have a point. The car is running quicker than it ever has, and Grubnic has the dragster running consistently. Losing on a holeshot to Kebin Kinsley in Indy notwithstanding, Millican is on a very good run. He reached back-to-back semifinals in Seattle and Brainerd and looks poised to move up spots as the Countdown begins. 

After winning two races in relatively short order (Englishtown, Norwalk), Jack Beckman has gone without a Wally for the last six races. Those wins came on hot, sticky race tracks during the brutal Eastern Swing. There’s no denying Beckman and the Infinite Hero team can compete on a hot track, but with cooler weather coming up, the team will have to adapt. 

“We went 3.82, 337 in Indy testing,” said Beckman. “We don’t have a 3.79 tune-up. The first thing we have to do is find a 3.81 tune-up. Then pick away at that to find a 3.80. We are not a 3.79 car right now, but we’re also not far away. No matter how fast these cars run under cool conditions, the majority of our race days won’t be that way.”

Beckman moved to No. 4 in the qualifying order with a 3.906-second pass in the second qualifying session. Only two Funny Cars made a pass in the 3.80s on Saturday (Courtney Force and J.R. Todd), and warm conditions will make it tough for more floppers to join them. 

“During qualifying they give you four darts to throw and you try to get as close to the board as you can,” said Beckman. “If the track is hot, a 3.95 might be a good run. If it’s cool, a 3.85 might be a bad run. It’s all about as pushing as hard as you can relative to track conditions, and now it’s more important in the Countdown because those 3-2-1 bonus points, not only are they tiebreakers but they can also move you a position.”

Right now, Beckman’s 3.906 is looking pretty good. We’ll see how that looks on Sunday. 

While the Top Fuel Dragsters got down the track with relative ease in the second session Friday, the story was different for the Funny Cars. That was no different for Tim Wilkerson, who posted a 4.442 in his second pass. 

“There’s bumps out there that you’re trying to deal with you, and the beginning of the race track here is really stellar, but at 500 feet it’s not,” said Wilkerson. 

The crew chief, driver, and car owner is in the unique position of wearing every possible hat while wheeling the Levi Ray and Shoup flopper. He feels that generally gives him an advantage when tuning, but especially when going up against a tricky race track. 

“I come back and download the run and look at it and say ‘yep, that’s exactly what I thought,’ or ‘I don’t know why I did that,’” said Wilkerson. 

He’s currently qualified No. 8 with a 3.976, but he thinks the track can hold more. That’s a sentiment likely felt by many of the teams chasing current No. 1 qualifier Courtney Force, who’s sitting on a 3.891. There are 10 cars with runs quicker than 4 seconds, so for many teams it’ll be about finding some consistency after the Friday night session. 

Wilkerson, who enters the Countdown in ninth, has 90 points to make up on points-leader Ron Capps. After losing in the first round in back-to-back races, the veteran driver made a run to the semifinals at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals. He crossed the centerline against J.R. Todd, a frustrating loss but one Wilkerson is ready to bounce back from.

Putting down solid qualifying passes hasn’t been a problem for Courtney Force this season. The driver of the Advance Auto Parts Camaro holds six No. 1 qualifiers and, as the provisional pole holder (3.891), is seeking her seventh entering final two sessions on Saturday. Force has just one final appearance under her belt, in Epping, and hasn’t made her way to the winner’s circle since the 2016 Houston event.

Crew chief Dan Hood is still looking for consistency in elimination rounds. Force lost in the first round of the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals to Cruz Pedregon as the No. 3 qualifier. She has lost in the first round seven times this season, three times as the No. 1 qualifier. That’s a bitter pill to swallow, but there’s no better time to turn things around than the Countdown.

“To be honest, getting it to stay on eight cylinders is everyone’s goal out here,” said Force. “I think we have a pretty good combination, and I feel that sometimes you fix one problem and you create a new one. Obviously, the performance in Indy isn’t what we wanted, but so far coming out here… it was a solid pass, all the candles lit, it’s what we were looking for. 

“I’m just trying to stay positive, the car’s running good, I know they’re confident, and I stand by my crew chiefs and my team, and they’re going to give me a great race car. It’s all about finding that consistency and I know we’re going in the right direction.”

Prior to that first-round loss, Force had two semifinal appearances in the last three races. When her Camaro stays at full power, there are few that can hang with it. The key is to keep it lit all the way down the strip. Right, easier said than done.

One of the busiest people at zMax Dragway this weekend is Alex Laughlin, who is once again pulling double-duty. Laughlin is driving his Pro Stock Camaro and also wheeling Anthony Dicero’s injected nitro car in the Top Alcohol Dragster class. Both entries are backed by Gas Monkey. On Friday, Laughlin drove his Pro Stock car to a 6.609 to qualify in the No. 10 spot and after two runs in Dicero’s car, he is third-quickest with a 5.303.

“I’ve been busy, that’s for sure,” said Laughlin. “Personally, I like it. It keeps me busy and I like the idea of getting more seat time. Even though both cars are very different, there is a lot you can learn by driving each one.”

Laughlin’s Pro Stock Camaro was built by Jerry Haas and is powered by engines from the Elite Motorsports group unlike the in-house Elite cars of Erica Enders and Jeg Coughlin, which were built by Rick Jones. That means that a set-up that works for Enders and Coughlin might not necessarily work for Laughlin.

“It can be bit of a disadvantage, but we can also learn a few things by having two different cars,” said Laughlin. “As for my car, we didn’t test and we didn’t change anything after Indy. I got to the semi’s and we put the car in the trailer and didn’t touch it until we got here. I think it ran pretty well. I was within seven-thousandths of Erica so that should tell you how even our cars are.”

Jeg Coughlin Jr. didn’t win a race during the regular season but that’s irrelevant now. He qualified for the Countdown to the Championship and based on his performance on Friday, he’s going to be a contender for a possible sixth Mello Yello Pro Stock title. Coughlin drove his JEGS.com Camaro to a 6.586 and a 6.588 and he finished the day in the sixth position but he’s only .027-second off the pace set by leader Tanner Gray.

“We had a good day on Friday,” said Coughlin. “It was the product of a lot of hard work. We struggled with these Elite cars in Indy but we worked on a few key areas and so far, it seems to have been productive.”

At Indy, Coughlin qualified No. 14 and lost in the first round to eventual winner Drew Skillman. Since then, the Elite team have tested extensively. They also enlisted the help of veteran Pro Stock and Pro Mod crew chief Jeff Pearley, who added his input to the current roster that includes Mark Ingersoll, Brian “Lump” Self, and chassis builder Rick Jones.

“We worked on a lot of areas including the clutch,” said Coughlin. “Jeff came over and provided his input and that was a big help as well. He’s a nice compliment to all the talent we already have over here. It never hurts to have another set of eyes and ears on tour program.”

The Elite cars have struggled to adapt to the new Goodyear tire that was introduced earlier this season, but Coughlin’s runs would seem to indicate that they have turned the corner regarding that issue. Starting the Countdown in the No. 7 spot, he realizes that there is little room for error if he is to make a run at another title.

“This is a good time for us to resolve some of our issues and get back to being competitive and contending for race wins,” Coughlin said. “For me, the job is the same. I just drive the car to the best of my ability. Lately, I can tell the car feels better. Those two 6.58 runs here [in Charlotte] felt really good. I could tell they were good before I ever heard the numbers. Now, we just need to continue to peck away at our tune-up and we should be in good shape.”

Shane Tucker arrived at zMax Dragway with a whole new look thanks to his recent sponsorship agreement with Hot Wheels Car Care products and his on-track performance has also taken a turn for the better thanks to a 6.676 run that is easily one of his best of the year. Tucker enters Saturday’s qualifying rounds in the No. 13 spot and he believes that he’s got the ability to improve by at least a couple of spots.

“That is one of our best runs for sure,” said Tucker. “We’re making slow progress; a lot slower than I’d like but we’re getting there. That was a good clean run. We’ve made a few of those in testing but now so many when we get to the races and they count. We did the correction on that run and it looked pretty favorable. We’re still four or five-hundredths off of where we should be but I think we can improve.”

Tucker plans to race in the final three events of the season in Dallas, Las Vegas, and Pomona but that’s subject to chance since he’s currently commuting between his U.S. office in Dallas and his homeland of Australia once a month. Tucker operates a multi-national Architectural business.

“I stay busy,” he joked. “Those 15-hour flights are not fun but we’ve got a good opportunity to build our business and that’s going to allow our race team to be more competitive so it’s all good.”

Weather they are willing to admit it or not, the start of the Countdown to the Championship represents a time when pro racers in the top ten begin to count every single point. That is especially true of the qualifying bonus points that are awarded to the top three finishers in each of the four qualifying sessions. One driver who isn’t afraid to admit he counts points is Pro Stock leader Bo Butner. Entering the Carolina Nationals just 20 points ahead of Tanner Gray, Butner has had a close eye on the rookie driver.

“He’s starting to sneak up on me, isn’t he?” said Butner, after Gray banked all six available points on Friday. “Thankfully, we ran quick enough to get a few points so he didn’t do that much damage. We’re going to need to step it up a bit. We can’t afford to lose a lot of ground in qualifying.”

At the end of the fourth session, Gray had collected seven bonus points. Jason Line also garnered seven while Butner finished with six points. Greg Anderson also added four points to his total.

“We managed to keep the damage to a minimum,” Butner said. “My car was good during qualifying but it wasn’t perfect. We just never hit the set-up just right. It was close, but not perfect. Thankfully, Jason stepped in today [Saturday] and ran the table. That was a big help to me.”

Andrew Hines has qualified in the top spot 38 times in his Pro Stock Motorcycle career but he hasn’t worn the traditional low qualifier green hat since the 2016 Reading event a year ago. Hines might well break that string following his strong 6.825 effort on Friday in Charlotte.

“This is exactly what we needed for our Harley team to start the Countdown,” said Hines. “Making a nice big jump from sixth or seventh where I was to first is a big deal. Having our Street Rods on the pole; that’s a big deal for Harley Davidson.”

It is now well-known that the Vance & Hines team abandoned the new chassis design they developed for the Street Rod bikes. After a frustrating summer, they’ve spent the last few weeks adapting the new body work to their old V-Rod chassis. The swap produced immediate results when Krawiec qualified No. 1 at Indy and won the sport’s marquee event.

“We’ve been working on these things night and day non-stop for months on end,” said Hines. “It’s been so much hard work. We’re asking so much of our guys to be at the shop until 11 or 12 at night. They’re mounting bodies and cutting up chassis. Every run is just a little bit of a morale boost for our guys at Vance & Hines.”

“On that [6.825] run, it just didn’t turn the tire enough,” Hines said. “we underestimated how good the track was going to be on that run. It got behind and started shaking. It gave up probably a hundredth in the first 60-feet. After that I was just along for the ride. On the first qualifying session, I hit the [air shifter] button but the light wasn’t on yet. I probably shifted 1,000 rpm early. The second run was much better.”

Kelly Clontz is making just her third start in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class but one would hardly know it by watching her. On Friday, she ran a 6.984, 192.91 and returned to run a personal-best 6.957, 194.83 in Q2. She is solidly in the field in the No. 12 spot.

“I don’t think about just qualifying,” she said. “I don’t think that way. I made two solid runs on Friday and my goal for Saturday is to just go out and make two more good runs. I haven’t been on a bike since July 9 in Chicago so it takes a little time to get used to it again. We had a great back-half on our 6.95 run but I could have shifted it a little better. Before I started racing in this class, my best was a 7.42.”

Clontz and her husband, Chris, got into the Pro Stock Motorcycle class by purchasing a Suzuki GSX-R bike from Gary Stoffer. They bought a Vance & Hines built engine from Gary Tonglet and they’ve started racing with Joe Riccardi’s San Marino team and rider Joey Gladstone.

“We had looked at some lease options but it just made more sense to go out and buy our own bike and engines,” Clontz said. “We want to be in this for the long haul. Right now, we’re looking at this race as a test for 2018. We’re just trying to gain as much experience as possible.”

Hector Arana Sr. hasn’t ridden a Pro Stock Motorcycle since the Englishtown race in June and there is a distinct possibility that he won’t race again this season. Arana Sr., the 2009 world champ, tore his rotator cuff while changing a tire on his motorhome. He had surgery in late June and has been sidelined ever since.

“It feels better but I’m still not quite there,” said Arana. “I actually sat on a bike for the first time yesterday and went through the procedure of doing the burnout and launching the bike and making a run. I was able to do it but I still had some pain. It was enough for me to know that I need a little more time to heal. When you add the G-Forces of the launch, I think it would have been tough for me to make a run. We’ll see how it goes over the next few weeks.”

Arana Sr. also addressed the future of the team’s EBR-bodied bike. Son, Hector Jr., rode the bike at Indy, but parked it after two runs and returned to his Lucas Oil Buell. The move paid dividends after Hector Jr. made it to the final round on Monday.

“The EBR will be back but I’m not sure when,” said Arana Sr. “We know that it will be a better bike, but we’re going to need time to test it. At Indy, we had a problem with the two-step, and then the Racepack [computer] didn’t work and we had a few other issues. We just decided to park it and concentrate on our old bike. We’re in the Countdown now so there’s no room for error. Hector’s bike is very fast right now so I don’t see us making a big change. Maybe this winter we’ll have a chance to get all the bugs ironed out. It’s going to be good to have options, though.”

PHOTOS

Tommy Johnson Jr. signs autographs for fans ahead of the second day of qualifying. 

Getting autographs, and handshakes, at the Mello Yello Powerhouse.

Kelly Clontz is all smiles at zMAX Dragway.

Fans get taken to class at Nitro School.

PREVIEW

Qualifying continues at the NHRA Carolina Nationals with conditions much more alike to Sunday eliminations. Racers in all four classes will try to knock off those sitting in pole position while working on their combinations for the first elimination-day of the Countdown to the Championship. Pro racing begins with Pro Stock Motorcycle at 12:45 p.m. Eastern. 

Doug Kalitta snatched the pole from Steve Torrence by running a 3.723-second pass. That made for a very tight 1-2-3 after the first day of racing, as the top three racers were each separated by a thousandth of a second. Leah Pritchett, Antron Brown, and Richie Crampton rounded out the rest of the top five. Despite a warm track, 13 of 15 cars got down the strip successfully. Only Tony Schumacher and Chris Karamesines are looking for a clean hit. 

The same can’t be said for Funny Car. Courtney Force holds pole position entering the second day of qualifying, while J.R. Todd, and Tommy Johnson Jr. make up the rest of the top three. Force and Todd were the only drivers to get into the 3.80s, and just 10 of the floppers ran quicker than 4 seconds. The second session featured loads of tire smoke as crew chiefs struggled to find the right combination. 

Beginning the Countdown to the championship in the No. 2 spot, rookie Tanner Gray made up ground on leader Bo Butner after leading both of Friday’s qualifying sessions. Sporting new look on his Gray Motorsports Camaro, the 18-year old banked six qualifying bonus points and currently has the lead with a 6.559, 210.50. Gray leads a trio of KB Racing drivers including Greg Anderson, Butner and Jason Line. Chris McGaha, Jeg Coughlin Jr., Indy winner Drew Skillman, and Erica Enders round out the top half of the field with two sessions remaining on Saturday. One driver to watch today is Vincent Nobile, who did not get down the track on either run on Friday. Nobile currently sits on the bump spot with a 15-second elapsed time.

Following a win by teammate Eddie Krawiec at Indy, Andrew Hines continued the recent performance surge by the Harley-Davidson team when he rode to a 6.825, 196.50 for the provisional pole. Hines, who hasn’t been the top qualifier in nearly a year, is ahead of reigning world champ Jerry Savoie, who posted a 6.838, 196.10 on his White Alligator Suzuki. Hector Arana Jr. also made a solid run with a 6.840, 196.07 aboard his Lucas Oil Buell. Indy winner Krawiec is fourth after a 6.866, 195.45. With 18 bikes on the grounds there will be a battle today to fill the field. Currently, Ron Tornow, who is making his NHRA debut, is on the bump with a 7.130, 186.33. The two non-qualifiers are Lance Bonham, who posted a best of 7.183 and Charlie Sullivan, who has a 7.372 best.