Madison: Rod Fuller Saturday summary

Fuller No. 1 in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS (June 24) -- Top Fuel driver "Hot Rod" Fuller continues to impress with the lowest elapsed time of the weekend during a second day of qualifying for the 10th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals.

Fuller, driving the Valvoline/David Powers Motorsports Top Fuel dragster, made his quickest pass during the final round of time trials Saturday night, traversing Gateway International Raceway's quarter-mile at 4.551-seconds and 328.30 mph.

"We had two awesome night passes but the one tonight was the one that couldn't be beat," Fuller said. "Lee Beard [crew chief], Rob Flynn [assistant crew chief] and the rest of the guys have been doing their homework and it shows. We've been really consistent with our hot weather tune-up and it's paid off.

Before his last pass of the day, Fuller had to watch his previous best No.1 time from Friday night fall to the fifth position before he had a chance to reclaim the top slot in front of an appreciative capacity crowd.

"'Hot Rod' has really been on his game the past couple of weeks," Beard said. "His reaction times are right on the mark and despite a hot track and slick conditions he's been able to keep the car in the groove. You can't ask anymore from a driver than that."

Fuller heads into Sunday's final eliminations fourth in POWERade points with a chance to move into the No. 3 position in the championship points. Should he score another win, Fuller's second in as many weeks, it would mark the first time in his short professional career he would claim back to back wins.

-dpm