Just five days since becoming the first Toyota driver to power to victory aboard the new GR Supra Funny Car, Ron Capps appears to be on track to earn his first No. 1 qualifier with his TGRNA machine.
During Friday’s second qualifying session at the NHRA Norwalk Nationals, Capps drove the NAPA AUTO PARTS Supra to a blistering 3.901 second at 328.38-mph pass under the lights at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park. The run held up to be the quickest Funny Car lap of the day and earned the two-time and defending series champion three bonus points and the provisional No. 1 qualifier position. Two more qualifying sessions are scheduled for Saturday, but with temperatures forecasted in the 90s, Capps seems to be in a good spot to maintain his position at the top of the timing sheets.
“Obviously, we are running well now,” said Capps, who took delivery of his new Supra Funny Car earlier this season during the Charlotte NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. “I knew it would take a little bit of time and a couple of races for (crew chiefs) ‘Guido’ (Dean Antonelli) and (John) Medlen and our NAPA guys to start trimming out the GR Supra body. They were just trying to massage it and see what it likes.
“We won Bristol in very demanding conditions,” added Capps, already a two-time winner in 2022. “I knew coming here it would be hot and humid. We were third pair during Q2 – very early in the session, so to go out and run that number was awesome, but I figured there would be some 3.80’s thrown out there. We had a bunch of .90s behind us, but we hung on. Just a great job by this entire team.”
If Capps can stave off the competition on Saturday, the new team owner will collect his fourth No. 1 qualifier of the year, and 33rd overall. He has two previous No. 1 starts at the Norwalk, Ohio facility.
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