Pomona, Saturday: Dave Connolly waited until Saturday's final qualifying session to uncork his best run of the Auto Club of Southern California Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. His 6.650-second time at 208.46 mph put him in the No. 6 position for Sunday's eliminations.
Connolly and the Cagnazzi Racing Lucas Oil/Charter Communications Chevy Cobalt squares off against Rickie Jones (11th, 6.675 at 206.51 mph) in the opening round. Connolly hopes to go all the way to clinch second place in NHRA's POWERade Drag Racing series, thereby giving Victor Cagnazzi's Mooresville, N.C.-based team the top two spots in the final order.
"So far so good," said Connolly. "We made two decent runs to start the weekend (Thursday and Friday) and we knew Saturday morning was going to be the best session. We got too aggressive and had too much wheel speed. But we calmed it down on the second run and we were low for the round in the right lane (6.650 seconds at 208.46 mph). We kept lane choice by being No. 6. We can do some damage out of there. That's usually a good number for us."
Jeg Coughlin, Connolly's Cagnazzi Racing teammate, officially clinched his fourth Pro Stock championship and second straight. And Ron Krisher, the third Cagnazzi Racing team member, is seventh at 6.662 at 207.18. He races Warren Johnson (10th, 6.670 at 207.88).
Connolly knows he needs to be on his game if he's to accomplish his desired results.
"In order to finish second, we are need to go further than Kurt and Greg," Connolly said. "If we can do our job and get by Rickie Jones in the first round, it looks like we are going to have to face Kurt. We'll control our own destiny again and try to knock him out.
"Basically, our goal is the same as it was when we came in here -- just win the race and see how things pan out in the standings."
Connolly and the Cagnazzi Racing Lucas Oil/Charter Communications Chevy Cobalt squares off against Rickie Jones (11th, 6.675 at 206.51 mph) in the opening round. Connolly hopes to go all the way to clinch second place in NHRA's POWERade Drag Racing series, thereby giving Victor Cagnazzi's Mooresville, N.C.-based team the top two spots in the final order.
"So far so good," said Connolly. "We made two decent runs to start the weekend (Thursday and Friday) and we knew Saturday morning was going to be the best session. We got too aggressive and had too much wheel speed. But we calmed it down on the second run and we were low for the round in the right lane (6.650 seconds at 208.46 mph). We kept lane choice by being No. 6. We can do some damage out of there. That's usually a good number for us."
Jeg Coughlin, Connolly's Cagnazzi Racing teammate, officially clinched his fourth Pro Stock championship and second straight. And Ron Krisher, the third Cagnazzi Racing team member, is seventh at 6.662 at 207.18. He races Warren Johnson (10th, 6.670 at 207.88).
Connolly knows he needs to be on his game if he's to accomplish his desired results.
"In order to finish second, we are need to go further than Kurt and Greg," Connolly said. "If we can do our job and get by Rickie Jones in the first round, it looks like we are going to have to face Kurt. We'll control our own destiny again and try to knock him out.
"Basically, our goal is the same as it was when we came in here -- just win the race and see how things pan out in the standings."
