Memphis Tony Schumacher Qualifying Schedule Update

Schumacher must wait until Sunday to qualify

Memphis,TN (October 9): After day one of qualifying was completely washed out by rain, competitors at the AutoZone Nationals at Memphis Motorsports Park had reason to believe that Saturday might allow them the chance to make the field for Sunday Eliminations.

As Team Exide sat patiently for most of the day, Top Fuel qualifying finally got under way around 6pm. Current points leader, Tony Schumacher was the last car to make his qualifying attempt of the session. With much disappointment, the Exide dragster smoked the tires and Schumacher was left unqualified, as 19 cars were attempting to make the 16-car field.

"We just had a little too much horsepower for that lane," said Schumacher. "I would have peddled it again, the but second time it smoked them (tires) real hard."

NHRA Safety Safari members battled the light rain the rest of the evening in an attempt to get at least one more session in. Cars were staged and the Exide dragster was only three pair of Pro Stock cars away from making their single pass down the track, when the rain halted qualifying once again. Despite attempts to keep the track dry, the decision was made to continue qualifying with one session at 10am and eliminations beginning approximately 1pm.

Being the points leader and only having one more chance to qualify is far from ideal for the Exide team. "We just need to go out there and show that we deserve our number one position," said Schumacher as he packed up for the day.