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Just like so many other racers and fans, Jeff Arend watched his friend Del Worsham suffer through an uncanny streak of microscopically close losses in 2006, and he felt for him. Now, as Worsham's teammate, Arend is beginning to wonder if he was brought aboard to be the deflector shield for Worsham, freeing up the boss to win a few close ones while he takes it on the chin by inches.
Two weeks ago, in Houston, Arend was ousted in the first round by 2-hundredths of a second. Here in Las Vegas, the margin was half that, as he powered down the track to a clean 4.845 only to lose to Ron Capps, by 11-thousandths of a second. Now Arend knows, first hand, how Worsham felt last year.
Qualifying at this year's first Las Vegas event was an adventure from the start, as one hot session was followed by a stout nighttime run, and then Saturday played out with one meek session followed by yet another nail-biting "bump fest" to wrap things up. For Arend, Friday worked out a bit in reverse, as he was one of the few who managed a solid lap in session one, putting a 4.915 on the board when very few cars were making full laps, but then missed putting a stout number on the board in the nightcap. After landing 4th in the first session, he saw his placement slip all the way to 15th after the night run.
"Everyone else did it just the other way, barely getting anywhere on the first run but then putting their big results on the board Friday night," Arend said. "We felt really good about our first pass, but we had some issues with some things inside the car on the second one, and I really couldn't control it the way it was. So we slipped down near the bottom, and there was no doubt we'd have to improve to make the show."
On Saturday, Arend joined a long list of drivers who were unable to negotiate the full length of the track during the first session, and he was indeed outside the field going into the last run. With stars like John Force, Tony Pedregon, Jack Beckman, Tim Wilkerson, Gary Densham, and Jim Head all in danger of not making the field, Arend was, at least, in good company.
By the time he came to the line, he was buried near the bottom of the list, but 4.818 seconds later, he had jumped himself right back into the fray. The only question remaining was, exactly where would that land Arend?
As it all shook out, it went something like this... Tony Pedregon bumped in, all the way to the top half of the field. Gary Densham was bumped out, but bumped his way back in again, also to the top half of the field. Tim Wilkerson was bumped out, but just barely missed when trying to force his way back into the show, and speaking of "force," John Force bumped his way in, but only to the 16th spot. With Wilkerson, Toliver, and Beckman still to run, Force knew his amazing streak of 395 races and 20 years was on the line. Beckman was the man who "forced" the issue, outrunning Force's time and leaving the 14-time champion on the sidelines for the first time since the Reagan administration. Jeff Arend finished in the 13th position.
On Sunday, that 13th spot created a match-up with the No. 4 qualifier, a guy by the name of Ron Capps, who just happened to be in the POWERade points lead coming into this race.
"There's a lot to be said for the theory that you often win or lose your first round race when you're qualifying, but we've all seen enough huge upsets on race day to know that's not always the case," Arend said. "No. 16 qualifiers beat the No. 1 guy all the time, just like today, so all we concentrated on doing was making sure the car made a full lap under power. We wanted to give ourselves a chance to win, if they bobbled at all, and maybe if things all lined up just right, we could even just flat outrun them."
Things lined up well for Arend, but not quite "just right." He had already seen his teammate, Worsham, take out Gary Densham on a big hole shot, running 4.842 to take the win by the slimmest of margins, and he knew his car would probably run something close to the that number. As is nearly always the case, Arend left the starting line first, and the race was on in a side-by-side battle of two fast race cars. At the stripe, it was Capps, taking the win by 11-thousandths of a second. Arend's 4.845 was just a few inches short of making it 2-for-2 for Team CSK.
"I'm beginning to understand how Del felt last year, because this is two races in a row where we really ran well, but came up just a few inches short after 1,320 feet," Arend said. "In the first round, eight teams move on and eight pack up. We weren't on the positive side of it, but we made it a good race. Someone said to me 'Man, that was a great race.' I said 'No, not really. A great race is one that close that I win. This was a good race, because we lost.'
"We're feeling good, we have two solid race cars now, and I don't think it's a surprise to anyone when either of our cars win rounds or qualify well. That's a good thing, because that means people respect us, and we're absolutely good enough to go rounds and be in the hunt for the top eight."
AREND FEELS THE STING OF ANOTHER CLOSE ONE
Just like so many other racers and fans, Jeff Arend watched his friend Del Worsham suffer through an uncanny streak of microscopically close losses in 2006, and he felt for him. Now, as Worsham's teammate, Arend is beginning to wonder if he was brought aboard to be the deflector shield for Worsham, freeing up the boss to win a few close ones while he takes it on the chin by inches.
Two weeks ago, in Houston, Arend was ousted in the first round by 2-hundredths of a second. Here in Las Vegas, the margin was half that, as he powered down the track to a clean 4.845 only to lose to Ron Capps, by 11-thousandths of a second. Now Arend knows, first hand, how Worsham felt last year.
Qualifying at this year's first Las Vegas event was an adventure from the start, as one hot session was followed by a stout nighttime run, and then Saturday played out with one meek session followed by yet another nail-biting "bump fest" to wrap things up. For Arend, Friday worked out a bit in reverse, as he was one of the few who managed a solid lap in session one, putting a 4.915 on the board when very few cars were making full laps, but then missed putting a stout number on the board in the nightcap. After landing 4th in the first session, he saw his placement slip all the way to 15th after the night run.
"Everyone else did it just the other way, barely getting anywhere on the first run but then putting their big results on the board Friday night," Arend said. "We felt really good about our first pass, but we had some issues with some things inside the car on the second one, and I really couldn't control it the way it was. So we slipped down near the bottom, and there was no doubt we'd have to improve to make the show."
On Saturday, Arend joined a long list of drivers who were unable to negotiate the full length of the track during the first session, and he was indeed outside the field going into the last run. With stars like John Force, Tony Pedregon, Jack Beckman, Tim Wilkerson, Gary Densham, and Jim Head all in danger of not making the field, Arend was, at least, in good company.
By the time he came to the line, he was buried near the bottom of the list, but 4.818 seconds later, he had jumped himself right back into the fray. The only question remaining was, exactly where would that land Arend?
As it all shook out, it went something like this... Tony Pedregon bumped in, all the way to the top half of the field. Gary Densham was bumped out, but bumped his way back in again, also to the top half of the field. Tim Wilkerson was bumped out, but just barely missed when trying to force his way back into the show, and speaking of "force," John Force bumped his way in, but only to the 16th spot. With Wilkerson, Toliver, and Beckman still to run, Force knew his amazing streak of 395 races and 20 years was on the line. Beckman was the man who "forced" the issue, outrunning Force's time and leaving the 14-time champion on the sidelines for the first time since the Reagan administration. Jeff Arend finished in the 13th position.
On Sunday, that 13th spot created a match-up with the No. 4 qualifier, a guy by the name of Ron Capps, who just happened to be in the POWERade points lead coming into this race.
"There's a lot to be said for the theory that you often win or lose your first round race when you're qualifying, but we've all seen enough huge upsets on race day to know that's not always the case," Arend said. "No. 16 qualifiers beat the No. 1 guy all the time, just like today, so all we concentrated on doing was making sure the car made a full lap under power. We wanted to give ourselves a chance to win, if they bobbled at all, and maybe if things all lined up just right, we could even just flat outrun them."
Things lined up well for Arend, but not quite "just right." He had already seen his teammate, Worsham, take out Gary Densham on a big hole shot, running 4.842 to take the win by the slimmest of margins, and he knew his car would probably run something close to the that number. As is nearly always the case, Arend left the starting line first, and the race was on in a side-by-side battle of two fast race cars. At the stripe, it was Capps, taking the win by 11-thousandths of a second. Arend's 4.845 was just a few inches short of making it 2-for-2 for Team CSK.
"I'm beginning to understand how Del felt last year, because this is two races in a row where we really ran well, but came up just a few inches short after 1,320 feet," Arend said. "In the first round, eight teams move on and eight pack up. We weren't on the positive side of it, but we made it a good race. Someone said to me 'Man, that was a great race.' I said 'No, not really. A great race is one that close that I win. This was a good race, because we lost.'
"We're feeling good, we have two solid race cars now, and I don't think it's a surprise to anyone when either of our cars win rounds or qualify well. That's a good thing, because that means people respect us, and we're absolutely good enough to go rounds and be in the hunt for the top eight."
