Joliet: Dave Connolly final summary

Connolly Moves Up to Fourth in NHRA Pro Stock Points

Dave Connolly was  disappointed with his first red-light start of the 2006
NHRA POWERade Series  Sunday in the CarQuest Auto Parts Nationals at Route 66
Raceway.  It's one  of the few things that have gone wrong for the SKULL GEAR
Chevy Cobalt driver  here in recent years.

But the quarterfinal exit didn't prevent him  from moving from fifth to
fourth in Pro Stock points (564) as he continued his  steady climb up the ladder.
He was 18th after three events and now fourth  after 10.

"It was just driver error," said Connolly of the red light against Kurt Johnson. "I was a little light on the clutch and let it out a little bit too soon." He was four-thousandths of a second early and Johnson won with a 6.669-second, 207.18-mph run.

"I know we still  have an awesome race. We ran good all weekend.  We're
looking forward to  going to Englishtown (N.J.) next week."

Connolly qualified third  with a career-best 6.653-second time at 206.80 mph.
He has 564  points.

-dcm