Denver: Martino final qualifying

As expected, Saturday's qualifying sessions for the NHRA's Mopar Parts Mile-High Nationals provided only small changes in the Pro Stock ladder for Sunday's final eliminations. One of those affected was Tom Martino, who slipped one position to 9th in the final classification. However, even though Martino's Saturday efforts did not improve on his best elapsed time of 7.308 seconds and a top speed of 188.57 mph, data gathered during those runs left the Farmingdale, NJ native quietly confident of being able to overcome the lack of lane choice and do well during eliminations.

"We were fairly sure we wouldn't be bumped out, so we tried a few things on our CENTURY 21 Grand Am. Although the jury is still out on the results, we did gather some valuable information that we hope to use tomorrow. This team needs to start going rounds, and I think we have a good chance to do so tomorrow. Our biggest liability is not having lane choice for the first round. This team's first priority will be to make it down the track every time - making solid A to B runs, with the driver doing his part. If we can accomplish that, we have a shot at a pretty good day."

-MR