Phoenix: Melanie Troxel Saturday summary

TROXEL VS TEAMMATE LUCAS IN ROUND ONE

PHOENIX (Feb. 24) -- Melanie Troxel will roll into Sunday's eliminations for the Checkers Schuck's Kragen NHRA Nationals at Firebird Raceway from the No. 5 position with her quickest elapsed time so far of the season. Her Richard Hogan-led Vietnam Veterans Memorial team powered their way into the competitive Top Fuel field covering the quarter-mile in 4.495 seconds along with a tremendous, booming speed of 331.12 mph.

That's the good news.

The unfortunate scenario set before the Avon, Indiana resident is that she will be racing the No. 12 qualifier -- her teammate, Morgan Lucas in the first round of Sunday's eliminations.

"How's that for irony," said Troxel, who holds the edge in head-to-head competition with a standing record of 7-2 against Lucas. "They are our teammates and they made such great progress and we were rooting for them all the way. They ran some good numbers, stepped up the program and didn't hurt the car. For us to have to race each other first round just kind of takes away the momentum of sharing information. We have to race somebody first round and it's tough to know that one of us won't be in the late round. That's the toughest part of it. I hope that whoever makes it past that first round will go on to win the event. That's the best we could hope for tomorrow."

-credit: lor