The NHRA POWERade Series has three of 24 races completed heading into this weekend's 21st annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park, so it's still early in the 2008 championship campaign, but early returns show a promising future for Team Chevy's Funny Car contingent.

After defending NHRA POWERade Funny Car champ Tony Pedregon drove past Gary Densham in an all-Chevy final round at the Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., two weeks ago, the Funny Car points standings saw four drivers behind the wheel of a Chevy Impala SS Funny Car sitting in the top seven in drivers points. Brothers and teammates Cruz and Tony Pedregon lead the way for Team Chevy in third and fourth, respectively, followed by Gary Densham in the Racebricks Chevy Impala SS in fifth and Tim Wilkerson in the Levi, Ray, &Shoup Chevy Impala SS in seventh.

"If you look at the quality of teams that are in the top 15, you start wondering who's going to get bumped out (for the Countdown)," Tony Pedregon said. "When I think in those terms, I know the importance of every race and I know the importance of every qualifying position because it may come down to that.

The NHRA POWERade Series has three of 24 races completed heading into this weekend's 21st annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park, so it's still early in the 2008 championship campaign, but early returns show a promising future for Team Chevy's Funny Car contingent.

After defending NHRA POWERade Funny Car champ Tony Pedregon drove past Gary Densham in an all-Chevy final round at the Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., two weeks ago, the Funny Car points standings saw four drivers behind the wheel of a Chevy Impala SS Funny Car sitting in the top seven in drivers points. Brothers and teammates Cruz and Tony Pedregon lead the way for Team Chevy in third and fourth, respectively, followed by Gary Densham in the Racebricks Chevy Impala SS in fifth and Tim Wilkerson in the Levi, Ray, &Shoup Chevy Impala SS in seventh.

"If you look at the quality of teams that are in the top 15, you start wondering who's going to get bumped out (for the Countdown)," Tony Pedregon said. "When I think in those terms, I know the importance of every race and I know the importance of every qualifying position because it may come down to that.

"It used to be four or five years ago that there was one or two good cars, and now we're looking at world-class fields with 12-15 cars that have all of the resources and have all of the talent, so it's going to be a dogfight. For those reasons, I know how important every race is."

Driving the Q Horsepower Chevy Impala SS, Pedregon had a slow start to the 2008 campaign with a fiery crash in the season-opening Winternationals at Pomona and a first-round exit at the next race at Phoenix, but the two-time Funny Car champ rebounded strongly with his win and a No. 1 qualifier at Gainesville.

"Just to be able to get into the top 10 (after Gainesville) is a big accomplishment for us," Pedregon said, "but we know we have to continue this kind of performance. You can't win them all so the name of the game this year is going to be consistency. (The win at Gainesville) was the best medicine. I'm no longer in pain and I couldn't say that in Phoenix. It was a little painful and a little uncomfortable there, and besides that my confidence wasn't 100%. But winning a race is the way to dig yourself out of a hole."