Columbus: Doug Herbert Friday summary

Herbert qualifies in top half of the field at Columbus

KIRKERSVILLE, Ohio -- Doug Herbert didn't make it down the track in one quick, smooth run Friday at the Pontiac Performance NHRA Nationals at National Trail Raceway. Still, he's qualified in the No. 6 position.

The rest of the field didn't do so well either.

"It rained for a long time before the first pro session and then it just got too cold," the driver of the Snap-on Tools dragster said. "The track couldn't hold those conditions. Only four cars made a decent pass all day and not a single car made it down the track in the second session. That's just not a good day of drag racing."

Herbert has won this event twice in the past (1993, '99) and is aiming to make up for the lackluster performance Friday sooner rather than later.

"Hopefully the track and the weather will be ready for us tomorrow and we can give the fans a great show and make up for today," Herbert said. "We've done well at this track in the past and I don't see why we can't continue that streak."

Herbert and the Snap-on Tools dragster turned in a 7.499-second pass at 135.97 mph to take the No. 6 spot. Qualifying continues Saturday with two sessions starting at 11:30 a.m.

All the action can be seen on ESPN2. Qualifying will air at 11 p.m. (ET) on Saturday and final eliminations will start at 7 p.m. (ET) on Sunday.

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