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Jeff Arend pulled to the line during Friday's night session, side-by-side with his teammate Del Worsham, and he was well aware of the importance of the run. Sitting beneath a beautiful Techron Impala body, Arend came into the last session outside the 16-car field, and he knew massive shuffling was about to take place, from top to bottom. All he really cared about was being one of those who shuffled upward, as opposed to those who end the day below the cut line.
"You know how weather forecasts are, but I'm not having a hard time believing the one we're seeing for Saturday and Sunday," Arend said. "Hot and sunny, in Denver during mid-July, is not exactly a stretch. So, the night session on Friday had to be a really big deal, and we had to step up. It won't be impossible to bump your way in tomorrow, but the way I see it is that I'd much rather be up in the middle of the pack than outside the top 16.
"We were on a great pass, pretty much dead-even with Del, who ended up third with a 4.89, but we started having some piston issues about 2-seconds into the run, and basically ran the whole back half on seven cylinders. It was sounding pretty bad down there, around 1,000-feet, but I kept my foot down because it's Friday night and you need every ounce of E.T. you can get. As soon as I hit the finish line, the motor was done. We knew we had a solid 4.89 or 4.90 in the car, but the motor just didn't make it all the way and we ended up with a 5.00. Tell you the truth, right after the run I was thinking 'Well we're going to end up around 12th or 13th," so to be 7th at the end of the session is pretty good."
AREND NOT HAPPY WITH 5.006, BUT IT'S STILL GOOD ENOUGH FOR 7th
Jeff Arend pulled to the line during Friday's night session, side-by-side with his teammate Del Worsham, and he was well aware of the importance of the run. Sitting beneath a beautiful Techron Impala body, Arend came into the last session outside the 16-car field, and he knew massive shuffling was about to take place, from top to bottom. All he really cared about was being one of those who shuffled upward, as opposed to those who end the day below the cut line.
"You know how weather forecasts are, but I'm not having a hard time believing the one we're seeing for Saturday and Sunday," Arend said. "Hot and sunny, in Denver during mid-July, is not exactly a stretch. So, the night session on Friday had to be a really big deal, and we had to step up. It won't be impossible to bump your way in tomorrow, but the way I see it is that I'd much rather be up in the middle of the pack than outside the top 16.
"We were on a great pass, pretty much dead-even with Del, who ended up third with a 4.89, but we started having some piston issues about 2-seconds into the run, and basically ran the whole back half on seven cylinders. It was sounding pretty bad down there, around 1,000-feet, but I kept my foot down because it's Friday night and you need every ounce of E.T. you can get. As soon as I hit the finish line, the motor was done. We knew we had a solid 4.89 or 4.90 in the car, but the motor just didn't make it all the way and we ended up with a 5.00. Tell you the truth, right after the run I was thinking 'Well we're going to end up around 12th or 13th," so to be 7th at the end of the session is pretty good."
