Joliet: Justin Humpbreys final summary

Justin Humphreys' Good Run Comes One Run Too Late at Torco Racing Fuels Nationals

One-thousandth of a second kept Justin Humphreys from starting the Torco Racing Fuels Nationals at Route 66 Raceway Saturday, but the first-year NHRA Pro Stock competitor was pleased with the progress his RaceRedi Motorsports/Knoll Gas Energy Pontiac GTO team is making.

Crew chief Eric Luzinski kept making tuning changes to get the car down a very finicky racing surface. And Humphreys' first Saturday attempt -- 6.667 seconds -- came as close as it could without putting him No. 16. Tom Hammonds kept that berth with a 6.666 time.

"Our main problem right now is that we make killer runs in bad sessions and bad runs in killer sessions," said Humphreys, of Monrovia, Md. "That's just another one of those things that is on the learning curve. Our 6.667 run was probably the best one we've made in Pro Stock. It was among the top six or seven for that session."

All 16 qualifiers turned in their best efforts on Friday night. Humphreys ran 6.685 at 205.94 mph and when Luzinski did a post-run check-up, he discovered some broken parts. "Had we made our Saturday run on Friday night, we probably could've run 6.63," he said. "We are excited because we think we might have figured out some problems, but when you miss the nighttime qualifying session on Friday, it hurts. It makes it a one-qualifying session weekend."

-credit: jls