Madison: Whit Bazemore Saturday summary

Bazemore goes for low, takes fourth in Gateway qualifying

MADISON, Ill. (June 26, 2004) - Whit Bazemore and crew chief Lee Beard were hoping to take advantage of the excellent weather and track conditions at Gateway International Raceway to qualify No. 1 in Funny Car for the third time this season. Bazemore, Beard and the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus fell a little short, ending up fourth, after posting the second quickest pass in both the third round (4.980/298.80) and the final round (4.767/326.48).

"We were trying to go for low, but didn't quite get there," said Bazemore of the last run. "The team is doing a fantastic job, as usual. We're happy. We've made four good runs here."

Second in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car rankings, Bazemore will face points leader Del Worsham for the second straight event, and will have an opportunity to regain the lead he lost last Sunday after being defeated by Worsham in the first round at Englishtown, N.J.

"Tomorrow we face Del Worsham again," said Bazemore, who holds the national elapsed time record of 4.713 seconds and has won twice this season. "It's just like last week. I'll concentrate on doing my job the very best I can, try to be perfect, and I have every amount of confidence in the team. I think we will go out there and be very, very competitive. Obviously, they're leading the championship now, so the pressure is more on them. They have more to lose than we do. We're just going to go up there and do what we know how to do and hopefully come up with the win light."

Final eliminations begin at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow.