<img src="http://gallery.nitromater.com/files/6/5/d_worsham06.jpg" alt="d_worsham06" align="left"borders="0"/>
Del Worsham was clearly streaking to one of the best runs of his career in session one, when the top pulley sheared off from the supercharger. The exiting pulley not only shut off the car, it also bounced around under the chassis for a few moments before putting three puncture holes in the back deck of the car, just above the left rear wheel well. Worsham ended Friday in the No. 19 position, with four sessions remaining prior to Monday's eliminations.
"I've kind of gotten numb to all the things that have been biting us all year, but this about takes the cake," Worsham said. "We've been working so hard on this car, and on the tune-up, and it went out there and did exactly what we wanted it to do. It's was on its way to a very low 4.70 run, maybe even a career best (Worsham's best-ever mark is 4.722) and then it just quit. I didn't know what happened at first, but I knew I ran over something right after the motor went silent, and that pulley must have been bouncing around under there for a while because I could feel it. We can fix the body damage and replace the pulley, but we can't replace the run.
"This was a very big session, but the fact we have five laps here instead of four makes a big difference. We'll have two more runs in similar conditions, and two in the middle of the afternoon, so we just have to go out there and do this again, without the breakage. When we get the car to the other end, it's going to be running big numbers. But right now we seem to be a little bit cursed, although we're in some good company because you could put a pretty good match race together with the five teams that are below the cut line right now."
In addition to Worsham, the cars of Tim Wilkerson, Scott Kalitta, Mike Ashley, and points leader John Force are currently outside the 16-car field.
WORSHAM STAYS FRUSTRATED, WITH BROKEN PARTS CAUSING ABORTED RUN
Del Worsham was clearly streaking to one of the best runs of his career in session one, when the top pulley sheared off from the supercharger. The exiting pulley not only shut off the car, it also bounced around under the chassis for a few moments before putting three puncture holes in the back deck of the car, just above the left rear wheel well. Worsham ended Friday in the No. 19 position, with four sessions remaining prior to Monday's eliminations.
"I've kind of gotten numb to all the things that have been biting us all year, but this about takes the cake," Worsham said. "We've been working so hard on this car, and on the tune-up, and it went out there and did exactly what we wanted it to do. It's was on its way to a very low 4.70 run, maybe even a career best (Worsham's best-ever mark is 4.722) and then it just quit. I didn't know what happened at first, but I knew I ran over something right after the motor went silent, and that pulley must have been bouncing around under there for a while because I could feel it. We can fix the body damage and replace the pulley, but we can't replace the run.
"This was a very big session, but the fact we have five laps here instead of four makes a big difference. We'll have two more runs in similar conditions, and two in the middle of the afternoon, so we just have to go out there and do this again, without the breakage. When we get the car to the other end, it's going to be running big numbers. But right now we seem to be a little bit cursed, although we're in some good company because you could put a pretty good match race together with the five teams that are below the cut line right now."
In addition to Worsham, the cars of Tim Wilkerson, Scott Kalitta, Mike Ashley, and points leader John Force are currently outside the 16-car field.
