Greg Anderson puts Pontiac GTO on the Provisional Pro Stock Pole at Sonoma
Summit Racing Pontiac sets both ends of Infineon Raceway Track Record
SONOMA, Calif., July 27, 2007 - Pontiac's Greg Anderson is the No. 1 Pro Stock qualifier tonight following the first day of time trials for the 20th annual Fram Autolite NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway. Anderson's Summit Racing Pontiac GTO set both ends of the track record with a run of 6.612 seconds at 208.07 mph. Anderson already has eight No. 1 qualifying awards this season, and one more will give him his 60th career raceday pole. Two qualifying sessions remain to be completed on Saturday.
"We did make a lot better run than the one earlier in the day," said Anderson. "We made up a lot of ground - I think about a tenth of a second from looking at the sheets. I'm not sure how we did it, but we'll take it. We've been fighting it a little bit, without a doubt, and I think I'm as surprised as anybody with that run, to be honest with you. We did something right and it feels pretty good.
"Since we've been able to develop a little bit of a lead coming up on the Chase, we decided we would take a few chances and try some different things on the Summit Racing Pontiac. We got ourselves a little too far off base and we can't blame that all on experimental parts. We're only two races away from the cut and it's all about momentum. You need to be peaking when you get to that Chase. You don't need to get there and then decide to turn it back on, because it's not that easy. It's time to turn it back on now. We haven't been making good runs with the racecar lately, I haven't been driving great, obviously our engines haven't been up to par and tonight we put it all together on that run. We'll see if we have any room left for tomorrow morning because we'll need to be just as fast at 10:30 a.m. History says that Saturday morning is the quickest run here and we'll see what happens.
"That was a great confidence builder and we need to do it again, and again and again. That consistency is what wins races. Not just one quick run here or there. You have to do it time after time. That's a first step and hopefully we can learn something from that run tonight."
Watch video: Greg Anderson post-qualifying interview, Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, Calif., July 27 - YouTube - Pontiac's Greg Anderson Post Qualifying NHRA Sonoma July 27
Qualifying coverage of the Fram Autolite Nationals will be telecast on ESPN2 on Saturday, July 28, beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern. NHRA Race Day will kick off eliminator coverage on July 29 starting at 11 a.m. Eastern on ESPN2, and a three-hour telecast of final eliminations will start at 8 p.m. Eastern.
