Houston: Duane Shields Saturday notes

BAYTOWN, Texas - It's been said that to win a race, you have to have at least one lucky round. Federal Mogul Dragster Duane Shields driver used his luck to the full extent to pick up his first round win during this weekend's O'Reilly Nationals presented by Pennzoil.

Shields, from Las Vegas, qualified No. 3 with a strong 5.376 at 261.88 mph, which paired him against No. 14 qualifier Sergio Recio in the first round. After a slight staging duel, NHRA Chief Starter Rick Stewart gave the pair an extremely quick tree, which caught Shields off guard. Recio took a huge holeshot on Shields, but luckily for Shields, smoked the tires. Shields drove around him to take the win with a hurt motor, running a 5.476 at 258.52 mph.

"We had some problems in the pit right before the run, and some problems getting the car to the lanes as well," said Shields. "I think that might have distracted me some. Sergio took a little longer than normal to stage, and I think I looked down and over right when he staged and the lights went down. I had a horrible reaction time, but luckily we had the performance, and he had a bad run. We also had an adjuster screw that broke right before the run, so it only made the run on seven cylinders."

Shields will face hometown racer Troy Buff from Spring, Texas. Shields feels he should be able to return to the 5.30's on Sunday.

"I think we should be able to get back into the 5.30's," stated Shields. "I'll be really shocked if we don't run a .30. The conditions should be great, and we'll have it hopped up enough to run good. We'll be ready to go."

Final eliminations begin for all categories at 11 a.m. Sunday. Stay tuned to SummitRacing.com's Drag Race Central for round by round updates on the action from Baytown.

-Sheilds Racing