Pomona II: Larry Dixon Thursday summary

Miller Lite Team takes provisional no. 2 qualifying position.

POMONA, Ca. (Nov. 7) - Newly crowned NHRA POWERade Top Fuel champion, Larry Dixon used the combination of an elapsed time of 4.576 seconds and the top speed of the qualifying session of 324.98 mph to take the provisional No. 2 position after the first day of racing action at the Auto Club NHRA Finals at Pomona Raceway.

Dixon, fresh off clinching his first Top Fuel championship two weeks ago, is still using the same momentum that brought him nine wins out of 14 final round appearances so far this season. His qualifying pass was a representation that this team only knows one way to race.

"It was a nice baseline run," said Dixon, the 2002 champion from Indianapolis. "Dick LaHaie (crew chief) adjusted for the air from Las Vegas. He set it up to go down the track and it did it. It's a good starting point. It's real hard at this race because you only get two qualifying runs before you get in a race day mode."

Weather forecasters are anticipating rain for Friday and Saturday in Southern California, which places even more emphasis on his Thursday pass.

"Everybody says there might not be much chance of running tomorrow. If that's the case, it puts you down to one and that makes that one run very important. It was nice to get down the track and know we're qualified for Sunday."

Qualifying is scheduled to continue with one session at 2:30 p.m. PT on Friday.

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