Bristol: Whit Bazemore Saturday notes

BAZEMORE FINISHES IN NO. 2 SPOT AT BRISTOL

BRISTOL, Tenn. (July 7, 2007) -- Whit Bazemore drove his Matco Tools dragster to its best qualifying position since March Saturday at Bristol Dragway. The 2002 Bristol Funny Car winner raced to the No. 2 qualifying position with a run of 4.547-seconds at the Seventh annual O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals.

The 20-time NHRA Funny Car winner posted his best qualifying time on Friday evening under the lights at the historic Bristol drag strip. Bazemore used a tune-up from crew chief Lee Beard to card a run of 4.547 seconds at 327.43 mph. Tony Schumacher was three thousandths of-a-second quicker at 4.544 seconds to earn the pole. Bazemore's Matco-backed rail overpowered the hot Bristol Dragway quarter mile on Saturday's first qualifying attempt. He finished the day by racing to a consistent run of 4.665 at 315.19 mph. It is the first time he will start from the No. 2 spot this season. He earned the pole at the Houston race in March, the 30th of his career. The veteran racer will compete in his 651st round of competition during Sunday's first round of eliminations. Bazemore is a three-time finalist at Bristol Dragway.

"The last run was good because it was hot and we went down the track and ran well," Bazemore said. "We feel very confident heading into tomorrow. It's going to be very hot and Lee's (Beard)made a tremendous amount of progress with our hot-weather setup. The thing I'm most excited about is how we ran in the heat and the progress we're making in that area."

Bazemore will match up against No. 15 qualifier David Grubnic when Top Fuel eliminations begin at Noon (ET) on Sunday. They have yet to meet during eliminations this season. ESPN will televise three hours of final eliminations coverage at 9:30 p.m. (ET) on Sunday evening.

-credit: dpm