TORCO/LUCAS OIL TEAM READY TO SHINE IN ST. LOUIS

MADISON, Ill. (April 30) – J.R. Todd’s racing horizon is getting a little brighter and after last weekend’s performance at Atlanta, the Torco/Lucas Oil team is now ready to shine in St. Louis.

Todd and crew overcame obstacles that were preventing the car from matching up with the track conditions. After a trial and error process, they narrowed the problems reaching the quarterfinals on Sunday.

“The weekend started out kind of slow for us, but on Sunday the car made what I would a say would be a 180-degree turn,” said Todd. “Now we’re heading into St. Louis and we need to prove that it wasn’t a fluke by backing it up showing we’re back on track. We made up some ground and we’re trying to knock on the door of the POWERade Top 10.”

Part of the reason for gaining ground on the tune-up was produced by cooler weather and after a two-hour rain delay; the NHRA Safety Safari prepared a very quick track and it showed.

“The weather conditions were a lot better on race day,” Todd noted. “The track was the best it had been all week. Stew (John Stewart, crew chief) made some changes on the car from what he had been doing in the past and found some things that could be improved. It looks like the conditions in St. Louis will be cooler towards the end of the weekend so hopefully we’ll have the same conditions we had in Atlanta and be able to repeat.”

The start of the 12th annual O’Reilly Midwest Nationals begins at the Gateway International Raceway on Friday, May 2 with two nitro qualifying sessions starting at 4:00 p.m. (EDT) and 6:30 p.m. Saturday's time trials start at 12:30 p.m. for the nitro classes followed by a second session at 3:00 p.m. The race starts promptly at 11 a.m. on Sunday, May 4.