Greg Anderson Friday rain-out report

Persistent rain at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona forced NHRA officials to cancel Friday's scheduled second qualifying session for the 51st annual Kragen O'Reilly Winternationals. Although the schedule calls for qualifying to be completed with two sessions on Saturday, a look at the forecast for the Pomona area shows the distinct possibility that the field for Sunday's final eliminations could be set based the one attempt completed on Thursday.

Understandably, Summit Racing Pro Stock standout Greg Anderson applauded his crew chiefs' decision to use a conservative set-up for their opening run, producing a 6.569-second, 210.60 mph pass, allowing the four-time champion and stable mates Jason Line and Ronnie Humphrey to secure the fifth, ninth and tenth provisional starting spots.

"Today's events validate the decisions we made yesterday," said Anderson. "Looking at the forecast for the weekend, we knew we needed to be conservative on that first run to make sure our Summit Racing Pontiacs went from A to B and get in the show because the rest of qualifying could be a washout. Since that seems to be coming to fruition, it was obviously the right decision.

"You always want to go out there and give it everything you've got, but sometimes you have to do the smart thing, which is why we have the crew chiefs we do on this KB Racing team. I probably would have gone out there and tried to go for the pole, but they knew better, and it was certainly the right move. All three cars are in the show, and positioned to have a great day. My hat's off to them.

"Naturally, we would have preferred to make another run, but everyone's in the same boat, so we certainly can't complain. We're all dealt the same cards, so whether we get another shot at the track or not, we have to do the best we can to make sure we make a winning hand on Sunday."

-source: kb racing