Cruz Pedregon Lands Fourth for U.S. Nationals

Advance Auto Parts Racing Nitro Funny Car

Pedregon Racing
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
50th Annual U.S. Nationals
Final Qualifying Notes & Quotes

Cruz Pedregon Qualifies Fourth For Indy
Advance Auto Parts Race Team Ready for ŒBig Go¹

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 5, 2004) ­ Cruz Pedregon grabbed the fourth position in
the Advance Auto Parts Monte Carlo Nitro Funny Car for tomorrow¹s 50th
Anniversary U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Pedregon, who logged a 4.844-second elapsed time at 315.93 mph to open the
weekend on Friday night, maintained that solid effort throughout. He also
made a great run to close out qualifying as well.

³We made a good run on our final one,² said Pedregon, who logged a
4.89-second elapsed time during the fifth and final qualifying session
today. ³We definitely needed to get down the track on that last one, and we
did that. (Crew chief) Wes (Cerny) tried his Œhot track¹ set up on that last
one, and it worked. The track was a little bit better than we were set up
for. The key for Wes was to get the car down the track, though. We feel
really good about tomorrow. Whatever the weather conditions are, we¹ll be
ready for them. 

Pedregon has a tough first round opponent tomorrow in Del Worsham, the same
driver he beat in the finals of the 1992 U.S. Nationals ­ his first victory
in this historic event. Even though this is the biggest race of the year,
Pedregon doesn¹t feel any extra stress.

³We¹re pretty relaxed for this one,² Pedregon continued. ³I feel like I¹ve
learned how to deal with the pressure and am pretty confident about what we
have. It¹s an exciting race and we¹re going to have fun. Really, when we
pull up to the starting line, it¹s just another race. It¹s important I pull
to the line, in any race, like it¹s the last race of my career. I always
give it my all, just like every other race weekend. Coming into this race, I
felt like we had an excellent shot. I still believe that. No pressure, I
know we have a good car and we¹ll go out there and see what we can do.²

Advance Auto Parts Notebook:

WINNING WAYS: Cruz Pedregon has had immense success while driving in the
world¹s biggest drag race ­ the U.S. Nationals. He¹s recorded three
victories at this famed event, topping the field in 1992, 1994 and 1995.

PedregonRacing.com