Millington: Cruz Pedregon eliminations summary

Pedregon finishes first round during Memphis event.

Millington, TN -- Cruz Pedregon and the Advance Auto Parts Racing Team were paired against John Force during first round on Sunday morning at the O'Reilly MidSouth NHRA Nationals in Memphis, TN. After qualifying in the number fourteen spot, Cruz Pedregon was up for the challenge of racing the number three qualifier, John Force, for the first time during the 2002 season. Despite Pedregon's favorable reaction time (.461 to a .484), John Force took the winning light with an elapsed time of 4.921 to Pedregon's 5.656 ET.

"We knew we were in a tough position," commented Pedregon, "Our car just hadn't been as consistent as his throughout the weekend. Memphis is a difficult track- with the grip just not being as good as some of the other facilities. A lot of guys struggled this weekend -- having a rough start on Friday after the rain. Our goal on Sunday was an attempt to make a strong pass -- no matter who we were racing."

After seven inches of reported rain on Friday afternoon, the Memphis track was cleared for one qualifying session Friday evening, forcing the cancellation of an earlier scheduled session. Cruz Pedregon and the Advance Team made their best pass of the weekend during Saturday's second session with an elapsed time of 5.15 at a speed of 287.29 mph.

"We are still figuring out the set-up for tracks such as this one," stated Pedrgeon, "This track isn't a 4.80 track -- it's a mid 4.90 track. It takes a completely different set-up. We have the strategy for the quicker facilities, but we are still obtaining data for these race tracks that are little trickier. Being able to run one more qualifying session during the weekend would have greatly benefited a lot of teams, including ours."

Cruz Pedregon and the Advance Racing Team will head north to Chicago later this week to compete at the Craftsman 75th Anniversary Nationals in Joliet, IL. The team is looking forward to going to a facility that yields quick elapsed times and record speeds.

-cpr-