Pomona: Cruz Pedregon rain postponement notes

Pomona, Calif., February 21, 2004 -- Persistent rain forced the cancellation of the 44th running of the Winternationals at Pomona Raceway. Racing will resume next weekend, for the Advance Auto Parts Racing team with one qualifying session scheduled on February 27, at 3:00 p.m. and two sessions set for Saturday February 28, at 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. Final Eliminations will be held on Sunday, March 1, beginning at 11:00 a.m.

Former Funny Car champion Cruz Pedregon powered to an elapsed time of 5.058 seconds at 309.34 mph in his Advance Auto Parts Nitro Funny Car during the first qualifying session on Thursday to position him in the eighth spot.

"It's disappointing but there's nothing we can do about the weather," said Cruz. "I think it was a good decision on NHRA's part to cancel the entire weekend because tomorrow's forecast doesn't look any better. We'll just head back to the shop and gear up for next weekend's race with our Advance Auto Parts Pontiac Firebird."

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