Cruz Pedregon Sonoma Qualifying Wrap Up

18th Annual FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals
Infineon Raceway - Sonoma, Calif.

Advance Auto Parts Nitro Funny Car - Pedregon Racing
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series

Cruz Pedregon Makes The Cut At Sonoma
Advance Auto Parts Driver Will Face Brother Tony in First Round

SONOMA, Calif. (July 30, 2005) - Cruz Pedregon and the Advance Auto Parts
Nitro Funny Car captured the 16th qualifying position for tomorrow's NHRA
POWERade Drag Racing Series event at Sonomaıs Infineon Raceway.

Pedregon, the 1992 POWERade Funny Car World Champion, put on an strong
effort during the last qualifying pass of the weekend and lapped the
picturesque Sonoma quarter mile in 4.973 seconds at 302.21 mph

He talked about some of the challenges faced this weekend.

"It has been tense and dramatic during these past two days," Pedregon said.
"We've struggled a bit this weekend because of some problems with the
parachute coming off before the run was over. But the bottom line is that
weıre in the field and ready to focus on race day.

³I really appreciate the quality of work the Advance Auto Parts team puts
On,² Pedregon continued. ³Sooner or later you can encounter a problem during
a race, and the good
teams know how to recover and move forward. Despite the windy and warm
conditions of the day, (Crew chief) Wes (Cerny) and the rest of the crew
helped me today to put on a run good enough to qualify.²

Pedregon will line up against brother Tony Pedregon during the first round
of Sundayıs eliminations.

³Racing Tony is definitely not the best case scenario,² Pedregon commented.
³But it is inevitable that we face each other every so often, Iıd rather do
it during finals or semifinals though.
Still, my goal for tomorrow is to put on a good show for the fans and the
companies that support our efforts.²