Atlanta: Chip King Saturday pit notes

Commerce, GA - When Chip King decided to take an unorthodox approach to Pro Mod racing, he committed to the whole program. Not only is the 38-year old racer from Semora, North Carolina intimidating the members of the established inner-circle this year, but he's doing it in sometimes unexpected fashion.

The number two qualifier at Gainesville and Bristol, King made the field for the Advance Auto Parts Southern nationals at Atlanta Dragway by cruising through strongly on Friday, and then struggling mightily to hold onto his place in the eight-car field on Saturday.

The Bill Barrett-led team chose to skip the third qualifying session on Saturday in order to spend extra time wrenching on their prototype Hemi-powered Dodge RT for the final session. As they worked in the pits, the nitrous cars were out on the track, running hard and threatening to eliminate the blower cars from the field entirely.

Undeterred, King went out for the afternoon stanza, not just trying to hold onto his spot, but looking to go right to the top. When he turned the Indy Cylinder Head machine loose, however, he immediately had his hands full of surging Mopar, crossing the centerline at half-track before coasting across the finish line in the opposite lane. Fortuitously, no damage was done, and his 6.322 from Friday's second session held up. King heads into Sunday's show as the only supercharged car left in the field.

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