Capps is provisional No. 1 qualifier on Friday in Phoenix

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series
Round 2 of 24
NHRA Arizona Nationals
Firebird International Raceway
Chandler, Ariz.
Feb. 20-22, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

CAPPS IS PROVISIONAL NO. 1 QUALIFIER ON FRIDAY IN PHOENIX

CHANDLER, Ariz. (Feb. 20, 2009) - On the heels of his first NHRA Full
Throttle Drag Racing Series Funny Car victory of the 2009 season last week
in Pomona, Calif., Capps set a low-elapsed time of 4.023 seconds at 305.63
mph in the second qualifying session Friday evening at the NHRA Arizona
Nationals to take the provisional pole position. Two more qualifying rounds
will take place on Saturday to set the 16-car field for Sunday's
eliminations.

If he holds on as low qualifier in the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge at the end of
Saturday's sessions, it will be the eighth of his career, and the first
since Dallas 2005. Capps was No. 1 here at Firebird Raceway in 2000. His run
was also the second quickest of the 1000-ft. racing era.

"I quoted Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) at the top end, 'confidence breeds
success,'" said Capps. "That's so apparent now. Obviously, [when] you win,
you have a lot of confidence, but I really left there knowing we had a great
car. And you always want to show up at a race after winning and at least in
the next couple of runs show that you did win because you were the best car.
And we proved that already. So, it's just nice to keep doing that.

"We think about it every morning...about how we should have done last year
(his last national event win before Pomona 1 2009 was St. Louis 2007). I
just haven't had a car that when we got to the starting line on a Friday
night session that we've threatened to be on the pole. And Ace is just a guy
who wants to keep a good baseline on the car. We just never [have been] guys
who threw the shot out there. Now he's feeling comfortable."

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