Brainerd: Whit Bazemore Saturday summary

Bazemore keeps his no. 3 spot in Brainerd

BRAINERD, Minn. (Aug. 16, 2003) - Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus Funny Car driver Whit Bazemore hung on to his No. 3 qualifying spot after the two final qualifying sessions today, despite smoking the tires in the third session. He posted a decent 5.020/302/35 in the final session, which was the fifth quickest of that round. But it was the 4.952/297.29 pass he set on Friday evening that put him No. 3.

Bazemore was in the third from last pair for the final session in a field of 20 cars. "We got up there and the track got decent and we couldn't change our car quick enough, according to Lee (Beard, crew chief)," he said. "He made some last-minute changes before each of the pairs in front of us, but we were kind of set with our clutch the way it was, and that was it.

"We feel good, we feel very confident going into tomorrow," added Baze, who will have another opportunity tomorrow to chip away at the 44-point deficit he has to points leader Tony Pedregon. "It's going to be a tough race, it's going to be a hard track to go down. But we ended up third, so we're in good shape. We're very confident and we're going to go out and try to win this race."

Bazemore will meet Cruz Pedregon in the first round of final eliminations tomorrow and will not meet his teammate Gary Scelzi unless both drivers make it to the final round.