Joliet: Ron Capps Saturday notes

AFTER LONG RAIN DELAY, CAPPS NAILS DOWN NO. 4 IN CHICAGO QUALIFYING

JOLIET, Ill. (June 7, 2008) - Following a three-hour rain delay today, Ron Capps pulled out a strong 4.777-second pass at 322.11 mph to nail down No. 4 in qualifying for the Route 66 NHRA Nationals.

Before the final round, Capps had driven the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T into No. 11 after posting two of three scheduled passes. In his opening attempt the wheelie bar broke, resulting in a DNQ. The ensuing two laps included a 4.844/316.82 and a 5.039/250.27.

"When you talk about a topsy -turvy turn of events, this one was it," said Capps of finally getting to make his last run in the dark. "We went from being in the staging lanes ready to make our final run of qualifying to running for cover because of tornado watches to bringing the cars back out at 7 o'clock to finish up the fourth qualifying run after the storms came through.

"It was a crazy three hours. Lo and behold, Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) put a great tune-up on the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge. "We had a bye run because Gary Densham pulled out of line. So it was just me by myself and I was able to really hear the motor and it just ran great. We ran a 4.77 and that put us No. 2 at the time.

"We went from being in the bottom half of the field before the rains came to going back and having another shot at it and then ending up with lane choice first round.

"Tomorrow is going to call for sunny skies and warm conditions. The poor crew chiefs. They're going to be scratching their heads. They're going from almost ideal conditions with a storm looming, to 90 degrees and humidity tomorrow."

Capps faces Scott Kalitta in opening round of eliminations on Sunday.

-credit: dsr