No. 14 qualifier Stevens takes 'anything can happen on Sunday" 'tude into Houston eliminations

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2006 NHRA POWERade DRAG RACING SERIES
Round 4 of 23
O'REILLY NHRA SPRING NATIONALS
Houston Raceway
Race Date: March 31-April 2, 2006


BAYTOWN, Texas (April 1, 2006) - Following the Gatornationals in
Gainesville, Fla., where the No. 12 qualifier took home the Pro Stock title,
No. 14 qualifier for the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals Richie Stevens Jr.
knows anything can happen on Sunday.

While the New Orleans native would've liked to have qualified better for the
family and friends he has in town for the fourth season event at Houston
Raceway this weekend, he isn't looking back heading into Sunday
eliminations. 

The driver of the Team Mopar/Valspar Dodge Stratus R/T posted his best
qualifying run of 6.737 seconds at 203.74 mph in the first session, then
struggled  in two of the three remaining passes (12.552/68.97, 6.756/205.82
and 11.668/75.46.)

Stevens has been qualifying strong all season, so this weekend's
qualifying performance surprised him. "We had two aborted runs, and
that is unheard of for us so far this season," he said. "The track has been
pretty tricky for us this weekend, but we'll figure something out for
tomorrow. Other cars have been getting down the track, so I know we can
too."

He fell victim to a slick track due to water seepage from the heavy rainfall
that fell earlier in the week when the car got loose on him in Friday
night's qualifying session. "I hit some water on the track at about
30 feet, and it started to shake pretty bad. I put it in second gear
and it felt like I was on ice, so I had to lift."

The Don Schumacher Racing driver qualified in the top half of the field
16 times since joining DSR in 2005, and this marks his lowest qualifying
position since last year's Spring Nationals (No. 16). "You hate to have it
happen anywhere, but I hate to have it happen here," he said of the
dragstrip he considers his home track. "I have so many people here from
home, and I was hoping to give them a good show all weekend. Now we'll focus
on Sunday, and hopefully we can get out of that first round and go from
there."

Stevens doesn't believe lane choice is a big factor at Houston Raceway.
"Both lanes seem to be pretty equal, as long as the Nitro guys don't oil
down the track too bad, we'll have a chance. We'll just have to fight harder
than usual, and maybe that will spark us."

He matches up against Erica Enders in the first round of Sunday's final
eliminations.