Cruz Pedregon Fourth After Day One

Advance Auto Parts Racing Nitro Funny Car

Pedregon Racing
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Infineon Raceway  Sonoma, Calif.
Friday Qualifying Notes & Quotes

Cruz Pedregon Grabs Fourth on Friday
Advance Auto Parts Team Keeps Qualifying Momentum Alive
 
SONOMA, Calif. (July 30, 2004)  Cruz Pedregon wielded his Advance Auto
Parts Racing Monte Carlo Nitro Funny Car to the fourth position following
the first two rounds of qualifying for this weekend¹s Fram Autolite NHRA
Nationals at Infineon Raceway.

Pedregon hasn¹t qualified outside the top eight since the Memorial Day
weekend race at Heartland Park Topeka (Kan.), at the end of this past May.
His 4.903-second lap at 311.56 mph may keep that streak alive as Infineon
Raceway heads to warmer conditions tomorrow.

³We made a great run,² Pedregon said. ³I want to give (Crew chief) Wes
(Cerny) a lot of credit for keeping this car and the Advance Auto Parts
Racing team so consistent - especially the way he set the car up. It¹s a
very difficult decision to go out there and either; go for the number one
spot, or make a consistent run, that you know will get down the track and
just have enough horsepower to get into the top half of the field. There¹s a
fine line there. 

³That decision was up to Wes,² Pedregon continued. ³He knew, based on the
track conditions from the first session, what we needed to get down the
track and get into the fourth spot. This has been the great strategy that
this team has utilized the last few races. It¹s something we¹ve worked at,
and now we¹re really seeing the fruits of that labor. A good qualifying
position is so critical to the process of winning a race.²

Advance Auto Parts Racing Notebook:

HARD TO SEE: Cruz Pedregon, driver of the Advance Auto Parts Monte Carlo
Nitro Funny Car, had a tough time getting down the track during that
second-qualifying session. Pedregon explained the trouble.

³That was the most difficult run I¹ve ever made in my career  as far as
visibility was concerned,² Pedregon said. ³I was really just driving off of
instincts. I felt I was going straight and I knew the car was on a good run.
I felt it move over to the centerline, so I instinctively moved it back. I
really had no idea where I was out there.

³I used my different impact helmet - that had a clear visor,² Pedregon
continued. ³I thought we were going to making a night run, so I didn¹t use
my helmet with the dark visor. It just happened that the sun was setting in
the West, as we were driving into it. I thought we were going to run a
little later, but they ran us about 20 minutes earlier than first thought.
Luckily, I kept it between the lines and we made a good run.²