Bristol: Hillary Will Saturday summary

Will qualifies No. 2 at Bristol
Highest qualifying position of her rookie season

BRISTOL, Tenn. (April 29, 2006) -- With four consistent runs, Hillary Will earned the No. 2 position at the sixth annual NHRA O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals during Friday's first qualifying session and held that position through the three remaining sessions. It was the highest qualifying position for the rookie driver in six races this season.

"We're pleased that we made four consistent passes this weekend and captured the No. 2 qualifying position," said Will following qualifying. "I think that the consistency we showed during qualifying will translated to round wins tomorrow."

During Friday's second session, Will, who drives the KB Racing LLC-owned, Kalitta Motorsports-managed Top Fuel dragster, was among four drivers that had to sit through an unexpected track clean up following a horrific crash by Cory McClenathan, who was airlifted to a local hospital for evaluation and observation and later released. The delay worked to the final two pair's advantage and a 4.562-second run for Will, the best elapsed time of the four qualifying passes.

"I didn't see the crash," recalled Will. "I was worried about Cory and we all hoped that he was okay. When the report came back that he was conscious and alert we were all very relieved. I then returned my focus to the upcoming run, reminding myself that I do this because I love it and there is no room for fear. You can't be scared of driving this car because then the car will drive you."

Melanie Troxel took the No. 1 qualifying position in Top Fuel, resulting in a new addition to the NHRA history book. It was the first time in the professional classes that two-woman drivers finished qualifying in the one and two position

Will punctuated that bit of history by commenting, "I think it's cool. That's 'Girl Power.'"

Will squares off against Morgan Lucas for the third time this season in the opening round of eliminations tomorrow. Lucas qualified No. 15 with a best of four passes of 4.684 seconds. The pair has met twice previously with Lucas coming away with two wins.

-kbr