Bristol: Dave Connolly Saturday notes

Torco Racing Fuels Chevy Cobalt Turns in Best of 6.782 Seconds

BRISTOL, Tenn., July 7, 2007 -- Dave Connolly's consistently-good qualifying runs Saturday solidified his hold on third place in the starting line-up for Sunday's O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.

After losing a motor on his first qualifying run Friday, Connolly rebounded with stellar times of 6.795 seconds, his best of 6.782 and 6.798 seconds in the Torco Racing Fuels Chevy Cobalt The latter two were second-quickest of their sessions.

Connolly races Steve Schmidt (14th, 6.814 at 203.06 mph) in the first round.

"We ran pretty good," said Connolly. "We are trying to get the car working a little better on a hot track and we did that and now Tommy (Utt, crew chief) will tweak it to get ready for eliminations." JConnolly will be going for his second straight victory. He won at Norwalk, Ohio, last Sunday.

-credit: dc/jls