<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/j_arend07_343561.jpg" alt="j_arend07_343561" align="right"borders="0"/>
Jeff Arend entered Saturday in the 14th slot, and he had serious doubts his 4.810 would hold for the eventual race field. After one session, run in the middle of the Chicago afternoon, he was still 14th and no one had even come close to making a run at the bump spot, much less his E.T.
Later in the day, after some lengthy delays in the Top Fuel class and a special running of the Pro Stock King Demon championship round, the Funny Cars pulled to the line with the sun lowering quickly and the track temperature dropping like a stone, and at that point every number in the lower half of the field seemed vulnerable. In the end, though, only Tim Wilkerson was able to crack the field and he slotted in below Arend, in the 15th spot. Arend remained 14th, and will race Kenny Bernstein in round one.
"What a tight field, considering just about all the numbers in it were run last night," Arend said. "It looks like a Pro Stock field, but Funny Cars are so unpredictable and inconsistent, that's pretty hard to do, especially when it all had to be done in the same session. We're 14th, so we'll race the No. 3 qualifier, and you'd think there would be a big difference in our qualifying numbers, but they were only about five-hundredths quicker than us on Friday night.
"It should make for a really great race tomorrow, all up and down the ladder. Everyone was pretty evenly matched, and unbelievably the two guys that have really dominated qualifying the most all year, Robert Hight and Mike Ashley, aren't in the field. That's hard to believe, but there you have it again. The whole class is tough, and absolutely no one is immune to this sort of thing, no matter where you are in the points."
STATUS QUO FOR THE MADMAN, AREND REMAINS 14th
Jeff Arend entered Saturday in the 14th slot, and he had serious doubts his 4.810 would hold for the eventual race field. After one session, run in the middle of the Chicago afternoon, he was still 14th and no one had even come close to making a run at the bump spot, much less his E.T.
Later in the day, after some lengthy delays in the Top Fuel class and a special running of the Pro Stock King Demon championship round, the Funny Cars pulled to the line with the sun lowering quickly and the track temperature dropping like a stone, and at that point every number in the lower half of the field seemed vulnerable. In the end, though, only Tim Wilkerson was able to crack the field and he slotted in below Arend, in the 15th spot. Arend remained 14th, and will race Kenny Bernstein in round one.
"What a tight field, considering just about all the numbers in it were run last night," Arend said. "It looks like a Pro Stock field, but Funny Cars are so unpredictable and inconsistent, that's pretty hard to do, especially when it all had to be done in the same session. We're 14th, so we'll race the No. 3 qualifier, and you'd think there would be a big difference in our qualifying numbers, but they were only about five-hundredths quicker than us on Friday night.
"It should make for a really great race tomorrow, all up and down the ladder. Everyone was pretty evenly matched, and unbelievably the two guys that have really dominated qualifying the most all year, Robert Hight and Mike Ashley, aren't in the field. That's hard to believe, but there you have it again. The whole class is tough, and absolutely no one is immune to this sort of thing, no matter where you are in the points."
