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Jeff Arend finished Saturday just like he ended his day on Friday, with two clean and strong runs. In the end, over the course of two days of qualifying in Las Vegas, Arend posted times of 4.808, 4.799, 4.862, and 4.807 to finally end up in the 10th position. He will face Mike Neff, who is making his professional debut here, driving for John Force Racing.
"We were very consistent here, that's for sure, but I have to admit we were trying to run a bit better than that in the final session today," Arend said. "We need consistency, but we thought we'd put three good ones on the board and it was time to step on it a little harder, to hopefully move well up into the top half, but it just didn't quite have E.T. we were looking for on that last one. I guess it's a sign you're running pretty well when you're disappointed that you finished up with a 4.80 on the last run.
"As for running Mike Neff in round one, you'd think that would be a good thing, to run a guy who is at his first race as a Funny Car driver, but I think you'd be very wrong to think that way. He's kept that car right in the middle for two days, and every one of his reaction times have been fantastic. Apparently, Mike Neff is going to be a heck of a Funny Car driver, and we just happen to be the guys who have to face him during his first lap of eliminations. We'll just go up there to do our best, and hopefully things will work out for us. It would sure be great to go out with a flourish here at these last two races."
AREND CONTINUES HIS CONSISTENCY, WILL RACE FROM THE 10th SPOT
Jeff Arend finished Saturday just like he ended his day on Friday, with two clean and strong runs. In the end, over the course of two days of qualifying in Las Vegas, Arend posted times of 4.808, 4.799, 4.862, and 4.807 to finally end up in the 10th position. He will face Mike Neff, who is making his professional debut here, driving for John Force Racing.
"We were very consistent here, that's for sure, but I have to admit we were trying to run a bit better than that in the final session today," Arend said. "We need consistency, but we thought we'd put three good ones on the board and it was time to step on it a little harder, to hopefully move well up into the top half, but it just didn't quite have E.T. we were looking for on that last one. I guess it's a sign you're running pretty well when you're disappointed that you finished up with a 4.80 on the last run.
"As for running Mike Neff in round one, you'd think that would be a good thing, to run a guy who is at his first race as a Funny Car driver, but I think you'd be very wrong to think that way. He's kept that car right in the middle for two days, and every one of his reaction times have been fantastic. Apparently, Mike Neff is going to be a heck of a Funny Car driver, and we just happen to be the guys who have to face him during his first lap of eliminations. We'll just go up there to do our best, and hopefully things will work out for us. It would sure be great to go out with a flourish here at these last two races."
