Bristol: Bob Tasca III Saturday notes

TASCA EARNS NO. 8 QUALIFYING POSITION, WILL FACE CAPPS IN FIRST ROUND

BRISTOL, Tenn. (May 17, 2008) -- Bob Tasca III started and ended Saturday qualifying at Bristol Dragway in the No. 8 qualifying position.

After posting a solid 4.82-second run on Friday night, the rookie driver and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane/Custom Accessories Shelby Mustang team used both of Saturday's runs to work on the car's performance from zero to 60 feet on the track. While neither run on Saturday saw Tasca make it successfully down the track, the team will change the car back based on Friday night's run.

"I don't think that it's too much of a surprise," said Tasca of his two runs on Saturday. "We wanted to try some different things. We made a good run on Friday night, and Chris [Cunningham, crew chief] has been making little steps to make gains. In racing, when you get an opportunity to try something different and you know you're safe, it was just something that we wanted to do."

Tasca will face Ron Capps in the first round of eliminations on Sunday. It will be the second meeting for the pair, with Capps coming away with the win during the second round at Las Vegas earlier this season.

"I feel very confident," said Tasca of Sunday's race. "We've got a racecar that Chris knows how to turn the screws to and run in mid-80s. And that's what we're going to need to run tomorrow morning to win. The driver's got to do his job too; I've got to have a good reaction time. It's going to be fun. It will be the battle of the parts cars here with Motorcraft and NAPA, and we're going to have something for that team tomorrow morning."

-credit: tasca/motorcraft