Commerce: Dave Connolly Saturday summary

DAVE CONNOLLY DISAPPOINTED BY DNQ AT ATLANTA

COMMERCE, Ga., May 14, 2005 - Dave Connolly, who entered the Southern Nationals second in NHRA POWERade Series Pro Stock points, failed to qualify for Sunday's race. Connolly, who won two of the season's first six races, came up the smallest of margins short of making the 16-car starting line-up.

He and Kenny Koretsky each ran 6.802 seconds, but Koretsky got the position because his speed was faster, 203.22 mph to 203.09 mph, difference of .13 mph.

This was the first race for Bullet Motorsports' Chevrolet Cobalt, but Connolly and didn't fault the car.

"It seemed like everything that could go wrong happened," said the Elyria, Ohio, driver. "The one thing we were worried about coming in here was the car, and that was the only thing that cooperated. We'll go back to the shop and get things together and come back strong next weekend at Columbus (Ohio)."

Connolly's first qualifying run Friday was a precursor of what was to follow. A rear end problem slowed the car to 6.869 seconds. He followed that with 6.802-second effort, followed by a 6.805 in Saturday's first session.

In his final attempt, the tires shook and the car move to the right, forcing Connolly to abort the run.

"We had an opportunity to take advantage of the situation . . . and didn't," he said. "It was disappointing."

Crew chief Terry Adams was surprised when the car got out of shape.

"I never would've expected that in a 100 years," he remarked. "We'd made some changes to the engine, but I don't know why the car shook."

Connolly and the team resume action Friday at Columbus.

-dsr-