<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/j_arend07_343561.jpg" alt="j_arend07_343561" align="right"borders="0"/>
Team CSK has been on a bit of a roll when it comes to high qualifying spots, as of late. Jeff Arend's teammate, Del Worsham spent both Friday and Saturday night, in Reading, meeting with the media as the number one qualifier. Arend himself spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night meeting with reporters in Indy, as the top dog. Though neither Checker, Schuck's, Kragen driver ever held the top spot in Memphis, Arend came close to making it six out of the last eight chances to "meet the press" at the end of the day, posting a 4.788 on Friday night here in Dallas. Running at the front of the session (Arend was dead last, in the 19th position after Q1) Arend and his "special edition" Havoline Deposit Shield/CSK team watched as big hitter after big hitter
failed to even come close to his mark. In the end, it was Tim Wilkerson who put it all together, knocking Arend off the perch by one thousandth of second. In all likelihood, Arend will now enter the race from the No. 2 spot, as both Saturday sessions are scheduled for the hottest part of the day.
"It would've been cool to be number one again, because being number one tonight means being number one for the race," Arend said. "But I'm not complaining, and I'll be the first to shake Tim's hand for the run they made. When you roll to the line in 19th place, and you know this one night run is for all the marbles, you'd probably have to be inhuman not to have some knots in your stomach. We knew it was all on the line there, and I don't know if my guys were trying to fool me or if they were dyslexic, because they told me it would probably run 4.87 on that lap. Instead, it ran 4.78. They got all the numbers right, just not in the right order, and we all had a good laugh over that.
"This lap was special for another reason, and we didn't talk about it before the lap. Our clutch guy, Daniel Gilbert, lost a close friend to the family recently. Cliff Langston was one of Danny's father's closest friends, and Danny said he really did a lot for him as he was growing up. Cliff was cremated, and we put a little bit of his ashes into the parachute pack for that run, so that he could end up right where he'd love to be, on the race track. I was happy to do it, and it meant a lot to Danny."
AREND MISSES TOP SPOT BY 1-THOUSANDTH, FINISHES FRIDAY IN THE No. 2 POSITION
Team CSK has been on a bit of a roll when it comes to high qualifying spots, as of late. Jeff Arend's teammate, Del Worsham spent both Friday and Saturday night, in Reading, meeting with the media as the number one qualifier. Arend himself spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night meeting with reporters in Indy, as the top dog. Though neither Checker, Schuck's, Kragen driver ever held the top spot in Memphis, Arend came close to making it six out of the last eight chances to "meet the press" at the end of the day, posting a 4.788 on Friday night here in Dallas. Running at the front of the session (Arend was dead last, in the 19th position after Q1) Arend and his "special edition" Havoline Deposit Shield/CSK team watched as big hitter after big hitter
failed to even come close to his mark. In the end, it was Tim Wilkerson who put it all together, knocking Arend off the perch by one thousandth of second. In all likelihood, Arend will now enter the race from the No. 2 spot, as both Saturday sessions are scheduled for the hottest part of the day.
"It would've been cool to be number one again, because being number one tonight means being number one for the race," Arend said. "But I'm not complaining, and I'll be the first to shake Tim's hand for the run they made. When you roll to the line in 19th place, and you know this one night run is for all the marbles, you'd probably have to be inhuman not to have some knots in your stomach. We knew it was all on the line there, and I don't know if my guys were trying to fool me or if they were dyslexic, because they told me it would probably run 4.87 on that lap. Instead, it ran 4.78. They got all the numbers right, just not in the right order, and we all had a good laugh over that.
"This lap was special for another reason, and we didn't talk about it before the lap. Our clutch guy, Daniel Gilbert, lost a close friend to the family recently. Cliff Langston was one of Danny's father's closest friends, and Danny said he really did a lot for him as he was growing up. Cliff was cremated, and we put a little bit of his ashes into the parachute pack for that run, so that he could end up right where he'd love to be, on the race track. I was happy to do it, and it meant a lot to Danny."
