NHRA

Bristol: Cruz Pedregon final report

CRUZ PEDREGON THUNDERS INTO FINAL ROUND IN BRISTOL; IMPROVES TO 7TH IN CHAMPIONSHIP POINT BATTLE Bristol, Tenn. (July 8, 2007) -- Cruz Pedregon and his Advance Auto Parts NHRA Funny Car team thundered into Sunday's Final Round at the NHRA Thunder ...

Published: Jul 9, 2007, 6:12 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

CRUZ PEDREGON THUNDERS INTO FINAL ROUND IN BRISTOL; IMPROVES TO 7TH IN CHAMPIONSHIP POINT BATTLE

Bristol, Tenn. (July 8, 2007) -- Cruz Pedregon and his Advance Auto Parts NHRA Funny Car team thundered into Sunday's Final Round at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at the legendary Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tenn.Up against an unknown variable in the form of a new track surface and the blistering hot, 133 degree track temperature, Pedregon methodically garnered round wins.At the end of the day, his Advance Auto Parts Funny Car team would improve from 10th to 7th in Championship points.Pedregon's team was ready for Bristol.On his way to a final round match up against 13-time NHRA Champion, John Force, Pedregon notched round wins over Jerry Toliver in the first round, Ron Capps in the semifinals and Jim Head in the quarterfinals.

"My hat is off to the entire Advance Auto Parts team," stated Pedregon. b^0x001cWayne and Kevin gave me a good car today and I did the best I could keeping it hooked up and in the groove today."

Veteran tuner and crew chief, Wayne Dupuy and assistant crew chief, Kevin Butterfield burned the midnight oil in search of the consistency factor.If the Bristol weekend is any indication, the elusive combination has been found. "We have bunch of horsepower at the hit of the throttle," said Dupuy.b^0x001cIt's very temperamental, but we are learning to control it and apply it all the way down the track."

Pedregon faced Championship Point leader, Ron Capps in the quarterfinal round. Pedregon, with lane choice, had a slight starting line advantage when he lost traction at the 200 ft. mark.b^0x001cThe car got a little sideways," said Cruzer.b^0x001cI had to calm it down by working the throttle a bit and we went on to an important round win."

In a classic final round match up, Cruz Pedregon, giving up lane choice faced his old nemesis, John Force. Both launched evenly off the line, but it was Force all the way with Pedregon at his door.Force crossed the stripe with a winning 4.993/284.62 to Pedregon's 5.024/279.73.

"John Force is a great opponent," said Pedregon. "We've had some great final round showdowns.I've won a few and he's won a few. We would have liked to have beaten him today, but we gave him a good race and it was good final round for the fans."

With a successful Bristol weekend behind them, Pedregon likes his team's progress heading into the Western Swing.b^0x001cI'm fired up about putting consistent runs together at these hot tracks," said Pedregon, the 1992 NHRA Funny Car World Champion.b^0x001cThe key for us moving up in points is to do well every time we pull up to the line this summer- that includes qualifying and gathering important round wins."

-credit: pr

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Bristol: Mike Ashley final report

Next article Denver: Rod Fuller preview

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Zane Smith fined $50,000 by NASCAR for ramming Carson Hocevar after Phoenix Cup race

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

2 h

Zane Smith fined $50,000 by NASCAR for ramming Carson Hocevar after Phoenix Cup race

FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

7 h

FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned

TDS Racing doubles down on IMSA program with two-car LMP2 return

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 7 h

TDS Racing doubles down on IMSA program with two-car LMP2 return

Why Isack Hadjar doesn’t like F1 sprints anymore

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Singapore GP

7 h

Why Isack Hadjar doesn’t like F1 sprints anymore

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts