Reading: Ron Capps Saturday summary

CAPPS MISSES ONE ROUND, QUALIFIES NO. 9 IN READING

READING , Pa. (Sept. 17, 2005) - Ron Capps and the Brut Dodge Stratus Funny Car team overcame the loss of the night qualifying round on Friday after NHRA erroneously claimed the car had an oil leak and qualified No. 9 today in the heat and humidity at Maple Grove Raceway.

In today's first session of Funny Car qualifying, Capps came in 11th with a 4.850-second elapsed time at 314.61 mph, then bettered that run later in the day with a 4.824/316.23. This final pass placed him No. 9 and matches him against No. 2 in the standings Robert Hight in first round of eliminations on Sunday.

"The unfortunate part is we lost a run," said Capps, "so Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) is essentially one run behind most crew chiefs here, but we get a huge match-up with Robert Hight in the first round."

With five races remaining in the 2005 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, Capps came into this event in third place, just 35 points behind Hight and 36 points out of first place. The results of this first round could make a major impact on the championship chase.

"There's two ways to look at it," Capps continued. "It can either be a positive or it can be a negative. At this point, we're going to have to make it a positive. We have no choice."

Capps is not concerned that he doesn't have lane choice. "These lanes are pretty even here," he said, "so I don't think lane choice is going to be that big a deal.

"It's going to be an exciting race. I'm glad to be a part of it."

-dsr-