<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/j_arend07_343561.jpg" alt="j_arend07_343561" align="right"borders="0"/>
Jeff Arend drove his Techron Impala to a strong 4.894 during the one Funny Car qualifying session completed here in rainy Seattle, and will race out of the No. 8 spot. He will face Mike Ashley in round one.
"That was a little stressful, to tell you the truth," Arend said. "We all hoped to get two laps in today, and if that would've happened we would have just set the field as it stood after the second run. But with us only getting one lap in, we knew the 'Top 10 Rule' would come into play, so we were out there running for all the marbles while we also had to focus on being far enough up the list to make sure one of the inserted teams didn't knock us out. Anything, from a broken blower belt to a popped burst panel or a little oil leak, would've been disastrous, but we got it down there and ended up 8th. It's no treat having to run Mike Ashley in round one, but then again it's no treat to run any of these other teams in any round. From the time you pull onto the property, you know you going to be racing very good opponents, who want to send you home grumpy. I'm hoping to end this race with a smile on my face, so we'll see how that all plays out."
AREND GRABS TOP-HALF SPOT FOR RACE DAY
Jeff Arend drove his Techron Impala to a strong 4.894 during the one Funny Car qualifying session completed here in rainy Seattle, and will race out of the No. 8 spot. He will face Mike Ashley in round one.
"That was a little stressful, to tell you the truth," Arend said. "We all hoped to get two laps in today, and if that would've happened we would have just set the field as it stood after the second run. But with us only getting one lap in, we knew the 'Top 10 Rule' would come into play, so we were out there running for all the marbles while we also had to focus on being far enough up the list to make sure one of the inserted teams didn't knock us out. Anything, from a broken blower belt to a popped burst panel or a little oil leak, would've been disastrous, but we got it down there and ended up 8th. It's no treat having to run Mike Ashley in round one, but then again it's no treat to run any of these other teams in any round. From the time you pull onto the property, you know you going to be racing very good opponents, who want to send you home grumpy. I'm hoping to end this race with a smile on my face, so we'll see how that all plays out."
