Baytown: Ryan Schnitz Saturday summary

Schnitz Leaps to 6th

Ryan Schnitz pushed Rob Muzzy's Trim-Tex Buell back into the 7.0's today with a 7.063 in round 3 that moved him up to sixth in the qualifying order. The team broke in a new tire in the final round and, like many, failed to improve.

"We kind of got a handle on the track and weather conditions," said Schnitz, who wasn't so confident with where they were yesterday. "We're now comparable with everybody else and I'm comfortable for tomorrow. We should do fairly well."

Breaking in the new tire in the final round was a race day strategy move that also gave the team a ready excuse for not improving. But a number of teams had a lot of trouble getting down the track that round. "I think a lot of teams broke some transmissions," said Schnitz. "Gary Scelzi, the Funny Car champion, didn't even qualify, so that gives you an idea about how difficult it was to tune to this track this weekend. It's gonna be a tuner's race, and whoever doesn't make a mistake is gonna win."

Schnitz will face Joey DeSantis in the first round of eliminations. "He has a Vance & Hines motor, so he'll be tough. We were looking at the ladder and there's no easy side of the ladder at all. This field is so tough."

-rm