Spencer Massey Seattle Saturday Report

Spencer Massey A Solid Third For The NHRA Northwest Nationals

Aboard his FRAM/Prestone Top Fuel dragster, Spencer Massey took the third-qualifying spot for Sunday’s 24th-annual NHRA Northwest Nationals here at Pacific Raceways.

Happy about having lane choice in his first-round race with good friend and 14th-qualifier Scott Palmer, the 28-year-old Don Schumacher driver believes this could be a key to race success.

“Now that qualifying is done and we have a great starting position, it’s time to get back into race-day mode,” explained the Fort Worth native. “This means I will be looking to cut a good light and then go A to B without messing up the great tune up Todd and Phil (Okuhara and Shuler, co-crew chiefs) always give me.

Spencer Massey

Photo by: Ted Rossino

“But tomorrow, I will also be looking for a quick time, because we’d like to have lane choice all day. The way the track has been behaving during the two days of qualifying, it might make a difference.”

Massey banked a 3.845-second lap at 319.67 miles per hour in Friday’s second session to earn his top-half-of-the-field position. In addition, he ran 3.877 at 318.47 mph in today’s third-qualifying round, while suffering traction issues the other two rounds.

“The NHRA and the track did a lot to make things more equitable between the lanes from Friday to Saturday,” he said. “But I still think lane choice could be an issue. Let’s put it this way – we don’t want to take any chances. We’ll go after winning rounds and being the quickest in doing so. This is such a competitive class, you need any advantage you can get.”

When the first pair of dragsters leave the starting line, at 11 a.m. PT Sunday, Massey will be sitting in second place of the Top Fuel standings. With three races, including this one, remaining before the start of the Countdown to 1 playoffs, he trails Del Worsham while leading DSR teammate Antron Brown in the quest for the number-one spot in the championship run.