Indianapolis: Dave Connolly Sunday summary

Connolly Second Quickest Sunday Afternoon; Will Start 9th at U.S. Nationals

The more runs Dave Connolly and the SKULL GEAR Chevrolet Cobalt Pro Stock team made, the better the car performed during qualifying for Monday's 51st annual U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

His final quarter-mile lap Sunday turned out to be his best. And while the 6.743-second elapsed time put him ninth in the starting field, it was second-quickest in Sunday's final session in the heat of the day. The same kinds of conditions are expected in eliminations. Connolly races V. Gaines (No. 8, 6.737 seconds at 203.92 mph) in the opening round.

Crew chief Terry Adams took advantage of more horsepower from Bill (Grumpy) Jenkins engines to fine-tune the Cobalt. After a 6.787-second effort Friday, the times dropped to 6.769, 6.746, 6.751 and 6.743 seconds.

"We changed motors for the last run," said Adams. "It was the motor we had in for our first run and there was a little problem then. We fixed that and the car ran well. This is sure a lot better feeling than we had two weeks ago (when the team failed to qualify at Memphis). Having more power sure makes the car work better."

Connolly, No. 5 in NHRA POWERade Series points, was pleased. "We are making better runs now," he said. "We have something to work with. We're looking forward to the race."

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