Cruz Pedregon Opens Weekend in Eighth

Advance Auto Parts Racing Nitro Funny Car

Pedregon Racing
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Maple Grove Raceway ­ Mohnton, Pa.
Friday Qualifying Notes & Quotes

Cruz Pedregon Opens Weekend In Eighth
Top Half of the Field Qualifying Effort On Tap for Tomorrow

MOHNTON, Pa. (Oct. 8, 2004) ­ Cruz Pedregon, driver of the Advance Auto
Parts Monte Carlo Nitro Funny Car, opened the rain-delayed Lucas Oil NHRA
Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in the eighth-qualifying position.

The California resident logged a 4.875-second elapsed time at 309.56 mph,
setting up two important qualifying sessions for tomorrow. Pedregon was very
pleased with his first session.

³We had a great start to qualifying,² Pedregon said. ³Up until the final two
qualifiers in that first session, we were in the No. 1 slot. It was an
excellent opening pass and we used an entirely different set up than what we
had last week in Chicago.

³We smoked the tires on the second pass,² Pedregon added. ³Thatıs something
we havenıt done in a while. Iım pretty optimistic though because tomorrow
looks good weather wise and I think weıll be back up or near the top three
again.²

Pedregon is going for four-straight top half of the field qualifying
efforts.