Stevens No. 9 after four qualifying rounds in Sonoma

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2005 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 15 of 23
FRAM-AUTOLITE NHRA NATIONALS
INFINEON RACEWAY
SONOMA, Calif.
Race Dates: July 29-31, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Judy Stropus, 203-438-0501; cell, 203-243-2438;
jstropus@earthlink.net

STEVENS NO. 9 AFTER FOUR QUALIFYING ROUNDS IN SONOMA

SONOMA, Calif. (July 30, 2005) - Nestled in the hills of Northern California
and deep in the heart of wine country, Infineon Raceway is one of the more
desirable stops on the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series schedule. With
straw-colored hills as a backdrop, Richie Stevens Jr. qualified No. 9 in the
Pro Stock class after four rounds of qualifying for the Fram-Autolite NHRA
Nationals today in the Team Mopar/Valspar HEMI-powered Dodge Stratus R/T.

It was a tough effort for Stevens attempting to claim his 10th qualifying
start in the top half of the field, as he posted first a 6.737/204.48 in the
first session, which was good for sixth at the time, a 6.725/204.54 in the
second run, and his best of the weekend, a 6.700/204.98 in Friday night's
session placed him in ninth. The 6.770/203.95 lap in the heat in the final
did not improve his position

"Not quite what we were looking for," he said. "We kind of struggled all
weekend. We didn't make picture-perfect runs and we ended up in the bottom
half, but we still qualified and got both cars in (including his teammate
Jeg Coughlin Jr. in 10th), but they were not really the runs we were looking
for.

"But we'll be here tomorrow and hopefully it will be a good day for us, and
we'll go some rounds.

"I think we just missed the setup this weekend. We've been a little off from
where we normally are on the page and we hadn't been really in the top five
or six like we have been in the past. We're just missing something. I don't
know what it is, Bob (Glidden, crew chief) doesn't know what it is, and
hopefully we'll find it before we head to Brainerd (Minn., in two weeks),
and even by tomorrow, so we can get some power to these cars."

Lane choice will not be an issue, said the New Orleans native. "I never
really noticed any difference in the lanes, maybe one is just a tad bit
better than the other. I don't think lane choice is going to be that much of
a big a deal tomorrow, but I could be wrong. Tomorrow is a whole other day.
We'll see when we get up there. It doesn't matter much to us, as we don't
have lane choice. We have to take whatever one we're given."

Stevens faces Erica Enders in first round of eliminations on Sunday.

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