Las Vegas II: Doug Herbert Friday summary

HERBERT JUMPS UP IN SECOND ROUND OF QUALIFYING IN LAS VEGAS

LAS VEGAS (Oct. 21, 2005) -- After the first round of qualifying Friday at the ACDelco NHRA Nationals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Doug Herbert and the Snap-on Tools team were in the No. 12 spot.

That just wasn't good enough.

So Herbert drove the Snap-on dragster to a 4.558-second run at 317.72 mph, good enough for the No. 6 spot in the second round. That was better than the first run, but still not as good as Herbert expected.

"It's especially tough because we're coming off a No. 1 qualifying position in Dallas, and to come here and struggle on the first day is not easy for this team to handle," Herbert said. "We've gotten used to being a threat to the No. 1 position and to have a couple of problems with the car is disappointing to all of us. But it's such a big difference in the atmospheric conditions here in Las Vegas and we're doing all we can to make the right adjustments and do what we can with all of the restrictions and guidelines that are imposed on Top Fuel dragsters. It's frustrating but it takes time."

Pro qualifying continues with sessions at noon and 3 p.m. on Saturday. Final eliminations will start at 11 a.m. Sunday.

Herbert turned in a 4.681 at 289.63 in the first session. Herbert said the run started well, but didn't finish that way.

"The car was running really well to start on both runs," he said. "But the car just blew up by the end. We made a big improvement on the second run, but we still had some problems. I know we'll get them worked out, but it's going to be tough. This is a great track, but the atmospheric conditions with the corrected altitude present a lot of challenges and we just have to tackle them quickly."

All the action can be seen on ESPN2 starting with the qualifying show at 10:30 p.m. (ET) on Saturday. NHRA 2Day will air at 11:30 a.m. (ET) on Sunday followed by the eliminations at 8 p.m. (ET) that evening.

-gs-