TWO MORE SOLID LAPS GIVE WORSHAM A 4-FOR-4 IN QUALIFYING
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/d_worsham.jpg" alt="d_worsham" align="right"borders="0"/>
Del Worsham went to bed on Friday night knowing he was sitting in the No. 6 position with half of qualifying complete, which is a good thing, but that was not the only thought he had spinning in his head. He also knew the weather forecast called for sunny and hot conditions on Saturday, which meant it was highly unlikely that any position swapping would take place in the top 12, while he also knew that Robert Hight was sitting 11th, and probably would still be there at the end of the day. Sure enough, 4.20s became good laps in the Saturday heat and the qualifying drama was reserved for the final four "open" spots, which were being fought for by five very good teams. The one not to make it? Last week's race winner, Tony Bartone, which only proves the difficulties inherent in today's Funny Car competition.
Worsham put two solid laps on the board during Q3 and Q4, giving him a 4-for-4 run over the course of two days. His 4.263 in Q3 was followed by a nearly identical 4.264 on the final pass, and Worsham remained in the No. 6 spot. For the record, Hight also remained No. 11, and the two will face each other in round one on Sunday.
"We've been qualifying well, and racing well, here in Sonoma for a bunch of years, and I think there's something to the fact that I feel pretty confident we're going to run well by the time I arrive here," Worsham said. "It's just a good feeling coming in. We know we have a good history here, and we come out firing every year. To put four straight good solid runs on the board here just adds to it.
"We were aiming for a little bit more on that last one, so of the four I'd say that's the one that maybe wasn't as killer stout as we would've liked, but we were also messing around with a few different set-ups because it really was kind of free run. We weren't going to improve on our 4.13 on either lap today, so it was worth trying a few things to see how the car might react. It's kind of funny that we came at the two laps today from slightly different directions, but ended up almost exactly matching the numbers. They were only off by a thousandth.
"Now, we can't seem to avoid big hitters in round one, no matter where we qualify, and we'll have Robert tomorrow. Last week we qualified No. 2 and drew Ron Capps. It's time we just plain win one of these big monster match-ups, because we're definitely running well enough to win rounds here tomorrow."
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/d_worsham.jpg" alt="d_worsham" align="right"borders="0"/>
Del Worsham went to bed on Friday night knowing he was sitting in the No. 6 position with half of qualifying complete, which is a good thing, but that was not the only thought he had spinning in his head. He also knew the weather forecast called for sunny and hot conditions on Saturday, which meant it was highly unlikely that any position swapping would take place in the top 12, while he also knew that Robert Hight was sitting 11th, and probably would still be there at the end of the day. Sure enough, 4.20s became good laps in the Saturday heat and the qualifying drama was reserved for the final four "open" spots, which were being fought for by five very good teams. The one not to make it? Last week's race winner, Tony Bartone, which only proves the difficulties inherent in today's Funny Car competition.
Worsham put two solid laps on the board during Q3 and Q4, giving him a 4-for-4 run over the course of two days. His 4.263 in Q3 was followed by a nearly identical 4.264 on the final pass, and Worsham remained in the No. 6 spot. For the record, Hight also remained No. 11, and the two will face each other in round one on Sunday.
"We've been qualifying well, and racing well, here in Sonoma for a bunch of years, and I think there's something to the fact that I feel pretty confident we're going to run well by the time I arrive here," Worsham said. "It's just a good feeling coming in. We know we have a good history here, and we come out firing every year. To put four straight good solid runs on the board here just adds to it.
"We were aiming for a little bit more on that last one, so of the four I'd say that's the one that maybe wasn't as killer stout as we would've liked, but we were also messing around with a few different set-ups because it really was kind of free run. We weren't going to improve on our 4.13 on either lap today, so it was worth trying a few things to see how the car might react. It's kind of funny that we came at the two laps today from slightly different directions, but ended up almost exactly matching the numbers. They were only off by a thousandth.
"Now, we can't seem to avoid big hitters in round one, no matter where we qualify, and we'll have Robert tomorrow. Last week we qualified No. 2 and drew Ron Capps. It's time we just plain win one of these big monster match-ups, because we're definitely running well enough to win rounds here tomorrow."
