Capps drives NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge to quarterfinals, raises record to 31-7
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ESPY nomination as 'Best Driver' for Capps softens disappointment at Norwalk for not advancing to semis for only third time this year NORWALK, Ohio (June 25, 2017) - This week started with great news for Ron Capps when he was nominated for the prestigious ESPY Best Driver of the Year Award that will be presented in July in Hollywood. But after his worst qualifying performance of the year, and despite not having his choice of lanes in the first round as the No. 13 seed, the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T team produced its best run of the weekend to that point (3.993 seconds at 310.27 mph) and upset No. 4 qualified Jonnie Lindberg. Capps with crew chief Rahn Tobler were quicker (3.965) and faster (324.83) in the quarterfinals, but Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tommy Johnson Jr. and the Make-A-Wish team were a little better (3.960) and stop the NAPA Dodge from advancing to the semifinals for only the third time in 12 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events. Second-ranked Matt Hagan, another DSR driver, also lost in the quarterfinals but his much better qualifying performance enabled to trim 14 points off Capps' lead to 149. "Tobler's a little frustrated because we got behind in qualifying," said Capps, who has won five of this year's 12 event titles. "What I love about racing with Tobler and our NAPA AutoCare crew is nobody got is distraught." A week ago, the NAPA Dodge qualified 10th for the 16-car field but won four times on Sunday to win the title at Bristol, Tenn. "As usual, we snuck up on it. I've said it time and time again, we could qualify dead last, 16th and I'd still feel like we have as good a chance if not more on race day. It's just how Tobler and the guys race. We just kept sneaking up on it. You've got to look at the silver lining. We lost, but we learned quite a bit about this racecar here. "We can add to what we learned in Bristol, and be very excited about going to Chicago (in two weeks.) Especially unloading and having a racetrack like we're going to see that night." This week started with great news for Ron Capps that he has been nominated for the prestigious ESPY Best Driver Award that will be awarded in July. But after his worst qualifying performance of the year, despite not having his choice of lanes in the first round as the No. 13 seed but the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T team produced its best run of the weekend to that point (3.993 seconds at 310.27 mph) and upset the No. 4 qualified Jonnie Lindberg. Capps with crew chief Rahn Tobler were quicker (3.965) and faster (324.83) in the quarterfinals, but Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tommy Johnson Jr. and the Make-A-Wish team were a little better and stop the NAPA Dodge from advancing to the semifinals for only the third time in 12 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events. Second-ranked Matt Hagan, another DSR driver, also lost in the quarterfinals but his much better qualifying performance enabled to trim 14 points off Capps' lead to 149. "Tobler's a little frustrated because we got behind in qualifying," said Capps, who has won five of this year's 12 event titles. "What I love about racing with Tobler and our NAPA AutoCare crew is nobody got is distraught." A week ago, the NAPA Dodge qualified 10th for the 16-car field but won four times on Sunday to win the title at Bristol, Tenn. "As usual, we snuck up on it. I've said it time and time again, we could qualify dead last, 16th and I'd still feel like we have as good a chance if not more on race day. It's just how Tobler and the guys race. We just kept sneaking up on it. You've got to look at the silver lining. We lost, but we learned quite a bit about this racecar here. "We can add to what we learned in Bristol, and be very excited about going to Chicago (in two weeks.) Especially unloading and having a racetrack like we're going to see that night." RON CAPPS, NAPA AUTO PARTS 2017 Dodge Charger R/T Crew chief: Rahn Tobler; Assistant: Eric Lane SUNDAY'S CHAMPIONSHIP ELIMINATIONS First round: CAPPS (3.993 sec., 310.27 mph) def. Jonnie Lindberg (8.596, 84.51) Second round: Tommy Johnson Jr. (3.960, 324.44) def. CAPPS (3.965, 324.83) QUALIFYING RESULTS Qualified: No. 13 FRIDAY: 4.420 sec., 196.64 mph, (Session 1); 4.144, 236.13, (Session 2) SATURDAY: 4.201, 239.53, (Session 3); 4.018, 321.19, (Session 4) Best Time, Speed: 3.839 sec. (2017, Phoenix); 333.58 mph (2017, Phoenix) NORWALK BY THE NUMBERS Last event (June 18), Bristol, Tenn.: Qualified No. 10, won in championship round over Jack Beckman A year ago at Norwalk: Qualified No. 3, won in championship round over Courtney Force Career at Norwalk: Wins 1 (2016); Runner-ups 3 (2011, 2013, 2014); Poles 0 2017 NHRA MELLO YELLO DRAG RACING SERIES FUNNY CAR STANDINGS (Official after Norwalk, Ohio; 12th of 24 events; wins in parenthesis; DSR drivers in CAPS) 1. RON CAPPS (5) 1,095 ----- 2. MATT HAGAN (3) 946 -149 3. JACK BECKMAN (2) 855 -240 4. Robert Hight 809 -286 5. TOMMY JOHNSON JR. (1) 739 -356 6. Courtney Force 714 -381 7. John Force (1) 683 -412 8. Tim Wilkerson 525 -570 9. J.R. Todd 508 -587 10. Cruz Pedregon 431 -664 NAPA KNOW HOW #WeAreDSR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ About NAPA AUTO PARTS NAPA (www.NAPAonline.com) was founded in 1925 to meet America's growing need for an auto parts distribution system. Today NAPA has grown to more than 6,000 NAPA AUTO PARTS stores, 58 distribution centers with more than 500,000 part numbers in inventory and more than 15,000 NAPA AutoCare and AutoCare Collision Centers nationwide. About Don Schumacher Racing Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered in Brownsburg, Ind., fields eight professional NHRA teams. In Top Fuel, the U.S. Army dragster driven by eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher, the Matco Tools dragster driven by three-time world champion Antron Brown, the Papa John's Top Fuel dragster driven by Leah Pritchett and in Funny Car, 2011 and 2014 world champion Matt Hagan in the Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T, 2012 NHRA world champion Jack Beckman in the Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge, the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge driven by 2016 Funny Car world champion Ron Capps and the Make-A-Wish Dodge driven by Tommy Johnson Jr. DSR has won 309 NHRA national event titles and 16 world championships. Follow Don Schumacher Racing at ShoeRacing.com, on Twitter at @shoeracing and Facebook.com/shoeracing - NAPA KNOW HOW - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FOR MORE INFORMATION: Jeff Wolf (wolfj@shoeracing.com), 702.524.1368 Leah Vaughn (vaughnl@shoeracing.com), 618.516.1988 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forward email http://ui.constantcontact.com/sa/fwtf.jsp?llr=5uv7snbab&m=1101041391262&ea=$submit@theautochannel.com$&a=1128263936264 This email was sent to submit@theautochannel.com by wolfj@shoeracing.com. Update Profile/Email Address https://visitor.constantcontact.com/do?p=oo&m=0017P0pCepJ2GP2dMQV03_KHA%3D%3D&ch=215770c0-32a8-11e3-b4ae-d4ae527548e1&ca=57518269-9ccc-448c-8d1f-cb4baa95e130 Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe(TM) https://visitor.constantcontact.com/do?p=un&m=0017P0pCepJ2GP2dMQV03_KHA%3D%3D&ch=215770c0-32a8-11e3-b4ae-d4ae527548e1&ca=57518269-9ccc-448c-8d1f-cb4baa95e130 Privacy Policy: http://www.constantcontact.com/legal/service-provider?cc=about-service-provider Online Marketing by Constant Contact(R) www.constantcontact.com Don Schumacher Racing | 1681 E. Northfield Drive | Suite A | Brownsburg | IN | Contact Information