Pit Stop Radio News

The No. 1 qualifier is Pritchett’s first of the season and eighth of her professional career. Pritchett considers Saturday evening’s monster pass a major step in the right direction for her Todd Okuhara-led team, which has experienced its fair share of hiccups in 2018.

“We’ve been developing some of our confidence in the last couple of races, specifically Vegas, where we tested the day after and, to finally put it on track is phenomenal,” said Pritchett, a five-time Top Fuel winner.

“I think one of the things I’m most proud of with our team is the amount of unity from each individual, knowing what we’ve done right and what we’ve done wrong and knowing to be very outspoken about it and learn from that.

“It’s easy to get down if you compare this season to last season and go, ‘Man, what’s the difference?’ The difference is last year we were racing and this year we have been developing, and now we’re developing and racing because we know we have to be exceptional against exceptional competition.

“Going into that run right there on Q4, obviously we knew we had to lay it down. The numbers we had in our packages before should have produced that and, time and time again, adversity struck. That run, I knew by 100-feet that we got that first part right. Then, the second quarter of track, we got that nice little quiver, and in my mind, I thought, ‘There’s that high-speed quiver that we’re going after,’ and then we started moving. Once I saw we were getting to the finish line, I thought, ‘If this isn’t No. 1, I don’t know what is.’ It felt great. It was a feeling that we finally got it figured out.

“Everybody needs a little bit of confidence,” added Pritchett, who as the reigning quickest female in NHRA history is no stranger to exceptional runs. “We’ve got the Mopar-power, and Pennzoil is running through our car, and we’ve got it running through our blood. And we’re proud to do it for the Pennzoil nation.”

Pritchett and the Mopar Dodge Top Fuel team will begin their campaign to defend their SpringNationals event title by squaring off against No. 16 qualifier Terry Brian in round one of eliminations.

Qualified: No. 1 (Lane Choice)

The Competition: No. 16 Terry Brian

The Results:
Q1: 4.142 E.T. at 204.60 MPH
Q2: 9.039 E.T. at 78.42 MPH
Q3: 3.745 E.T. at 321.96 MPH (One bonus point for third quickest run of the session)
Q4: 3.680 E.T. at 326.00 MPH (Three bonus points for quickest of the session)

Bonus Points: Four

Top Fuel:

TONY SCHUMACHER

Funny Car:

The Competition: No. 13 Richard Townsend

The Results:
Q1: 4.065 E.T. at 266.27 MPH
Q2: 8.909 E.T. at 74.34 MPH
Q3: 3.953 E.T. at 317.42 MPH
Q4: 3.918 E.T. at 314.31 MPH (Two bonus points for second quickest run of the session)

Bonus Points: Two

Quotable:
“This time yesterday, we were sitting up here in the crew chief lounge thinking it was a high probability Saturday would be a complete rainout. We had a shut off run and a run where the parachute fell out, which would have been a good run and still qualified us.

“The fact that the weather held out on Saturday and our car was fourth quickest and second quickest of the two sessions today, it means we did everything right. I am so confident going into tomorrow. I hate using the word ‘proud,’ when people say, ‘I’m proud of my guys,’ because they don’t work for me and I’m not their dad. I am just really happy to be a part of this group. We had a great race car to take into eliminations tomorrow.”

RON CAPPS

The Competition: No. 3 Matt Hagan (Lane Choice)

The Results: 
Q1: 4.806 E.T. at 147.31 MPH
Q2: 8.447 E.T. at 65.75 14 MPH
Q3: 4.332 E.T. at 277.72 MPH
Q4: 4.077 E.T. at 305.77 MPH

Quotable:
“It’s not optimal to run your teammate first round. We’ve got four DSR Funny Cars and they’re all the cream of the crop. We all know we’re going to have to meet each other to win a race; that’s a given. You just don’t want to put yourself in a position to have each other first round. And it’s our fault. We didn’t qualify very well and we got behind. It was on a great run Friday night and then (crew chief, Rahn) Tobler had to just kind of back everything off to make sure we got in the show.

“This race track has been tricky, but that is part of what drag racing is. It’s having to deal with different conditions. Not every race track is the same. But you know what, how many times have we rolled up there with Tobler and he’s pointed at me through the windshield, no matter where we’re qualified, and he’s pointed at me before I stage the car, without lane choice, and everybody would have thought ‘no chance’ and we went on to win the whole race, so I have plenty of confidence.”

The Competition: No. 14 Ron Capps

The Results:
Q1: 3.984 E.T. at 298.40 MPH (One bonus point for third quickest run of the session)
Q2: 3.913 E.T. at 308.78 MPH (Three bonus points for quickest run of the session)
Q3: 3.931 E.T. at 311.20 MPH (Two bonus points for second quickest run of the session)
Q4: 3.938 E.T. at 311.85 MPH

Bonus Points: Six

Quotable: 
“We went down four times on a tricky race track. Considering how many guys were puffing the tires off and shaking the tires and everything else, I feel like we got some really good data to work on for tomorrow. We have a lot of Pennzoil people here. Lots of grinning and gripping with a lot of folks who have never been out here so we’re just trying to show them what we’re doing and how we’re doing it. We’re trying to put a good experience in their mind.

“I think today was a huge success for some of our sponsors and our folks who support what we do and help us do what we do on the race track. Our car ran really good running the Pennzoil colors. We’re qualified No. 3. We led the qualifying position last night then came in here today with cool weather conditions, just trying to press and learn some new stuff and do some different things. I’m feeling very, very confident for tomorrow. We just have to remember tomorrow is a different day with different weather conditions. All in all, I’m really happy with qualifying.”