Richmond: Dave Connolly final summary

Connolly Reaches Quarterfinals at Torco Racing Fuels Nationals

Dave Connolly advanced to the quarterfinals of the Torco Racing Fuels Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park Sunday before running into Pro Stock series leader Jason Line.

Connolly, who has been driving the SKULL Gear Chevy Cobalt, was in a new Cobalt wearing Torco Racing Fuels livery for this event. He qualified eighth with a career-best 6.612-second elapsed time and ousted Kurt Johnson in the opening round of eliminations -- 6.622 seconds at 206.80 mph to 6.636 at 209.26.

"We didn't do a good job of getting the car down the track against Jason," said Connolly after his car was slowed by loss of traction early in the run. He aborted the run and coasted to the finish line in 12.642 at 67.11 to Line's 6.576 at 209.56 mph.

"We didn't get down the track that far before we had problems, but we do feel good about our weekend," he continued. "Our new car is running real well. Our problem was we didn't run fast enough to keep lane choice against Jason."

Connolly stayed third in points with 1323 with two races remaining -- at Las Vegas, Oct. 27-29, and Pomona, Calif., Nov. 9-12.

-credit: dcr