Bristol: Cory McClenathan Friday notes

Mechanical Problem Foils His Friday Night Qualifying Run

BRISTOL, Tenn., July 6, 2007 -- Cory McClenathan's weekend in Bristol began on a good note Friday when he qualified the JEGS.com Top Fuel dragster on his first qualifying run of 4.659 seconds at 316.15 mph and he left the track with the 10th quickest time of the day for the O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.

The Scott Griffin Motorsports team was wearing yellow, and will do for the remainder of the weekend, in this special one-race agreement with JEGS.

"We got down the track on the first run and that really made the difference," said McClenathan, "because we had a mechanical problem on the second run and oiled the track almost immediately. The last time we ran this car we went to the finals at Columbus (Ohio last year).

"We had an oil leak early in our second run and the oil got under the tires and I had to shut off the car," said McClenathan. "That was unfortunate but at least we are in the show. The last time we drove the JEGS.com car (at Columbus last year) and we finished second.

Hot, humid conditions kept a lid on low elapsed times during the day.

Two more runs are scheduled Saturday to set the fields for Sunday's eliminations.

-credit: sgr