Earl's Fast Qualifier 2004-06-28

Drake Now #1 in Earl's Sprint FQ Points

Jay Drake posted the fastest qualifying time for Friday's "Sundown at Showdown" at Richmond, Va. and now leads the Earl's Plumbing Fast Qualifier standings in the USAC Valvoline National Sprint Car Series.

Jerry Coons, Jr. (Weld Racing Silver Crown at Richmond) and Jerome Rodela (Western Midgets at Perris, Calif.) also posted Earl's fast qualifying efforts last week to improve their standings in their respective series.

Drake and USAC's three National Series, plus USAC's Western Midgets are slated to compete in this weekend's "Rocky Mountain Classic" at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colo.

Points are traditionally awarded at each USAC event based on an international system awarding the top-six qualifiers with points in the following scale: 1st-9. 2nd-6, 3rd-4, 4th-3, 5th-2, 6th-1.

Each USAC National, Western and Ford Focus Midget Car Earl's Plumbing FQ Champion will be honored at USAC's Champions Night ceremony in Indianapolis in December. The National and Western FQ champs will receive $5,000 each, while the Ford Focus FQ champs will each receive $1,500.

2004 Standings:

Weld Racing Silver Crown:
1-Dave Steele-27; 2-Dane Carter-13; 3-Jerry Coons, Jr.-12; 4-Levi Jones-11; 5-Jon Stanbrough & Jason McCord-10.

Valvoline National Sprint Car:
1-Jay Drake-23; 2-Bud Kaeding-20; 3-Jason McCord-19; 4-Shane Cottle-18; 5-Cory Kruseman-17.

National Midget Car:
1-Bobby East-29; 2-Josh Wise & Dave Steele-26; 4-Dave Darland-25; 5-Ron Gregory-18.

Valvoline Western Sprint Car:
1-Tony Hunt-30; 2-Michael Lewis-21; 3-Brian McClish-12; 4-Chad Nichols-11; 5-Greg Taylor-9.

Western Midget Car:
1-Jerome Rodela-57; 2-Steve Paden-37; 3-Garrett Hansen-28; 4-Michael Lewis & Johnny Rodriguez-16.

California Ford Focus:
1-Chris Rahe-53; 2-Bradley Galedrige-40; 3-Josh Lakatos-37; 4-Bobby Michnowicz-24; 5-Nick Morago-21.

Carolina/Virginia Ford Focus:
1-Chase Scott-34; 2-Sam Beam-25; 3-Kevin Conway-16; 4-Mike Ward-12; 5-Danny Bopp-11.

Midwest Ford Focus:
1-Tate Martz, Ryan Litt & Rex Norris III-29; 4-Trenton Darland & Jordan Noblitt-20.

--USAC