[coverattach=1](June 14, Englishtown, NJ) For Rodger Brogdon and the Charter Communications Pro Stock team this week’s race at Englishtown’s Raceway park can be summed up in the fact that missing the opportunity to improve in Saturday’s lone qualifying session put them behind the proverbial ‘eight-ball’ come race day.
With cooler temps settling in over the track on Saturday and a low cloud deck, atmospheric conditions were optimum and saw the majority of the Pro Stock class run their best times of the weekend. Unfortunately for Brogdon the engine stalled at the end of his burnout and after finally getting restarted, the rest of the run just ended up out of sync, a situation that resulted in a missed opportunity to stay in the top half of the field. Friday’s two qualifying laps had the team solidly in the mix and looking to score the third top half qualifying position in their last four events, but with the missed effort on Saturday the team ended up #15 once qualifying had concluded. As it turned out qualifying position was very critical once race day rolled around.
Running against the number two qualifier Mike Edwards in the opening round saw Edwards take the preferred left lane (higher qualified car has lane choice) and although Brogdon was the third quickest in the right lane with a 6.631, it just wasn’t enough when Edwards ran low E.T. for the weekend at 6.555.
“Not being able to get down track in the third session is what eventually did us in,” said Brogdon. “We should have been able to regroup in the final session with the cool air and cloud cover on Saturday, but when the rains came and took out the final qualifying session, it sealed our fate.”
“I do have to say though,” Brogdon added, “that the team is continuing to take positive steps. With each passing race we are eliminating the small things that have been holding us back. The difference in how we ran here this weekend compared to how we were running four weeks ago in Bristol is amazing. People forget that this is only our sixth race together as a team, and in that short time span we’ve qualified in the top half of the show twice and moved to 14th in the points. We’ll continue to improve as the season progresses and I’m sure that going rounds on Sunday is in our not too distant future. With the next race in Norwalk being two weeks away, we’ll continue to test and refine the car and our set-up, while Cagnazzi’s engine shop builds the horsepower. Norwalk always seems to provide a good track, and I’m sure it’ll be exciting to see what we’ll be able to do there.”
With cooler temps settling in over the track on Saturday and a low cloud deck, atmospheric conditions were optimum and saw the majority of the Pro Stock class run their best times of the weekend. Unfortunately for Brogdon the engine stalled at the end of his burnout and after finally getting restarted, the rest of the run just ended up out of sync, a situation that resulted in a missed opportunity to stay in the top half of the field. Friday’s two qualifying laps had the team solidly in the mix and looking to score the third top half qualifying position in their last four events, but with the missed effort on Saturday the team ended up #15 once qualifying had concluded. As it turned out qualifying position was very critical once race day rolled around.
Running against the number two qualifier Mike Edwards in the opening round saw Edwards take the preferred left lane (higher qualified car has lane choice) and although Brogdon was the third quickest in the right lane with a 6.631, it just wasn’t enough when Edwards ran low E.T. for the weekend at 6.555.
“Not being able to get down track in the third session is what eventually did us in,” said Brogdon. “We should have been able to regroup in the final session with the cool air and cloud cover on Saturday, but when the rains came and took out the final qualifying session, it sealed our fate.”
“I do have to say though,” Brogdon added, “that the team is continuing to take positive steps. With each passing race we are eliminating the small things that have been holding us back. The difference in how we ran here this weekend compared to how we were running four weeks ago in Bristol is amazing. People forget that this is only our sixth race together as a team, and in that short time span we’ve qualified in the top half of the show twice and moved to 14th in the points. We’ll continue to improve as the season progresses and I’m sure that going rounds on Sunday is in our not too distant future. With the next race in Norwalk being two weeks away, we’ll continue to test and refine the car and our set-up, while Cagnazzi’s engine shop builds the horsepower. Norwalk always seems to provide a good track, and I’m sure it’ll be exciting to see what we’ll be able to do there.”
