Stevens Jr. advances to quarters in Phoenix

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 2 of 23
CHECKER SCHUCK'S KRAGEN NHRA NATIONALS
FIREBIRD INTL RACEWAY
CHANDLER, Ariz.
Race Date: Feb. 24-26, 2006


CHANDLER, Ariz. (Feb. 26, 2006) - Richie Stevens, Jr., and Team
Mopar/Valspar got their first Pro Stock round win of the 2006 campaign in
the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series today at the Checker Schuck's Kragen
Nationals at Firebird Raceway. Stevens easily defeated Dave Connolly in the
opening round, then fell to Greg Stanfield in the second.

In his match-up with Connolly, Stevens registered a near perfect reaction
time of .009 of a second (.000 is perfect), and sped down the quarter-mile
with an elapsed-time of 6.718-seconds at 204.98 mph to Connolly's losing
7.290/146.10.

Following that run crew chief Bob Glidden found some engine damage, but the
team ran out of time to replace the engine before the second round. Changing
engines is a difficult task for Pro Stockers, whose engines usually last
through multiple events. "Bob could tell the engine was hurt, but we didn't
have time to replace it, so we went up there with what we had," said
Stevens.

Stevens believes the hurt engine and the loss of lane choice for the second
round may have cost him a chance at a win against Stanfield, as appeared to
be evident by Stevens' 6.777/204.66 lap to Stanfield's noticeably quicker
6.729/204.82. 

"We lost lane choice by two-thousandths (of a second), and that probably
cost us," said Stevens. "If we would have been in the left lane we would
have made a better run, and I think we kind of went up there on a prayer
with the engine," said the New Orleans native.

Despite that, Stevens feels good vibes from the weekend and is ninth in the
point standings. "Overall it was a good weekend. We qualified well and won a
round. You hate to lose first round like we did in Pomona (on a holeshot),
so just to get a round win and stay in the top 10 in points is important at
this stage of the season.

"We'll do some testing before Gainesville, so that will be good. I want
to work on my reaction times, and Shaun (Carlson, teammate) can get
some more seat time," said Stevens. "We can get this Team Mopar/Valspar
HEMI-powered Dodge Stratus R/T figured out on the tougher tracks; then head
down to the Gatornationals with a tough car to beat.

The entire Don Schumacher Racing Pro Stock team will head to Valdosta,
Ga., next weekend for several days of testing at South Georgia
Motorsports Park. 

Next up on the NHRA schedule is the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals
in Gainesville, Fla., March 16-19.