Indy ORP: Greg Anderson Sunday notes

Anderson Qualifies Fifth, Works on a Solution for Monday's U.S. Nationals

Summit Racing Pontiac pilot Greg Anderson's performance in qualifying for this weekend's Mac Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals was a perfect example of how appearances can be deceiving. After all, a review of the four sessions at O'Reilly Raceway Park will show he made four solid runs in the 6.63 to 6.65-second range, with his best effort of 6.635-seco nds at a top speed of 208.20 mph in Friday's opening round earning the five-time Indianapolis winner the fifth starting position.

However, even though this will be the eighth time in ten career starts that he will start in the Top Five in Indianapolis, the ultra competitive Anderson was not particularly pleased with the lack of progression of his runs, a sentiment magnified by his feelings towards his sport's biggest race. Knowing improvement would be necessary to contend for his sixth win at the "Big Go", he immediately began an extensive analysis of the data in order to formulate a game plan for Monday's final eliminations.

"What is upsetting to me is that our car is not running close to its true potential, and we're at the U.S. Nationals," said Anderson. "We started off with a great run on Friday, but were never able to improve. It's going to take some work to bring it around in time for tomorrow.

"We'll go over the car from front to back to see if there is anything obvious, and review all our notes. We'll also compare our data with that from Jason's car, although the two don't necessarily act the same. The bottom line is that we have to come up with a plan for tomorrow. Fortunately, I know this Summit Racing team is up to the challenge. This race means more than anything else to me, and I am determined to have a good day tomorrow. It's time to get to work."

-credit: kbr