Phoenix: Ron Capps Saturday summary

CHANDLER, Ariz. (March 6, 2004) -- Ron Capps and the green Skoal Racing crew will enter Sunday's final eliminations at the CSK Nationals in the No. 11 qualifying position following the 14-time event winner's weekend-best qualifying effort of 4.908 seconds at 306.26 mph on Friday evening.

Capps, who won this event one year ago, encountered a few mechanical gremlins on Saturday as the green Skoal Racing squad was faced with adverse race conditions as a result of the warm Arizona temperatures.

"The fuel pump lever broke on the final run on Saturday," Capps said. "I think that's our lucky break of the weekend. You've got to have one of those every race. That could have been in the first round tomorrow, and then we'd really have been in deep water."

"We also tried some new things with the clutch today and the car shook for the first time in a long time. We'll go back to the old clutch setup. I never count the Skoal Racing green guys out and I look to go up there for the first round and run a great E.T. against (Gary) Scelzi."

Capps will look to defend his title at the CSK Nationals on Sunday when he faces No. 6 qualifier Gary Scelzi in the opening round of final eliminations which begin at 11 a.m. (MT).

ESPN2 will televise three hours of final eliminations at 7 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, March 7.

-www.snakeracing.com