Bristol: Greg Anderson Saturday notes

Anderson qualifies No. 2 on new Bristol Dragway surface

BRISTOL, Tenn. (July 7, 2007) -- A new track surface coupled with heat and humidity produced a cornucopia of varied types of runs during qualifying for the NHRA O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals on the quarter-mile track at Bristol Dragway.

The end result was still the same though as the top four in the NHRA POWERade Pro Stock point standings finished in the top four positions on the final qualifying ladder.

Greg Anderson put his KB Racing LLC, Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac in the No. 2 position. His best of four qualifying passes was a run of 6.782 seconds at 204.35 mph.

Jeg Coughlin (6.765/204.05) is No. 1 and Coughlin's teammate Dave Connolly (6.782/203.58) holds down third. Anderson's teammate Jason Line (6.789/203.86) begins his quest for his second consecutive win here at Bristol Dragway from the number four spot.

As he goes for his 50th career win, Anderson begins with Kenny Koretsky in the opening round of eliminations.

After 11 races, excluding the points earned here for qualifying, Anderson has gone to six final rounds, winning all six. He leads the NHRA POWERade Pro Stock standings with 992 points, which also puts the Minnesota native, who now lives in the Charlotte N.C. area, in the lead for the first segment -- Countdown to Eight -- of the Countdown to the Championship. Jeg Coughlin is second with 825 points (-167) and Coughlin's teammate Dave Connolly, with 775 points (-217), in third.

Then comes Anderson's KB Racing teammate Jason Line with 682 points, 310 behind Anderson, in fourth. Rounding out the top five is Allen Johnson in fifth with 584 points, 408 off the lead. (For a brief description of the Countdown to the Championship, see below.)

In addition to his win in 2004, Anderson claimed the first of his 49 career wins at Bristol Dragway in 2001.

ELIMINATIONS: Note the later start: Final eliminations for the NHRA O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals begin for all teams at 12 noon on Sunday, July 8. All qualifying and eliminations times are local Bristol time (ET) and subject to change.

-credit: kbr