CONNOLLY'S UP AND DOWN DAY
Sat, 2008-06-21 07:29
Improved track conditions for the second Pro Stock qualifying run Friday at Old
Bridge Township Raceway Park -- and a Charter Communications/LifeLock Chevy
Cobalt that went straight -- enabled Dave Connolly to claim the No. 6 berth as
Lucas Oil SuperNationals competition got underway.
Connolly is chasing the field while attempting to qualify for the
championship playoffs with a car has been finicky. But it wasn't on the second
attempt when he was timed in 6.627 seconds at 208.36 mph. Unfavorable track
conditions forced him to abort the opening run, resulting in a 7.828 at a
coasting 127.92 mph.
"They had a bad oil down (before the start of the Pro Stock session) and
the (track cleanup) crew put a bunch of oil dry on it and never cleaned it
up. We were all driving through it and the cars went all over the place,"
Connolly said. "Fortunately we made a better run in the afternoon. We spun the
tires pretty hard and gave up some time in the 60-foot department, but at least
we got in the show and we can work on it from there.
"This car is starting to act like (Cagnazzi Racing teammate
Ron) Krisher's. We spun the ties (on the last run) and it still went down the
track. I feel we have a car that has a little bit bigger (tuning) window than
we did before. Hopefully we can go out and fire off two more runs like that and
we'll have a car that can race on Sunday. We are within a couple hundredths (of
a second) of where we need to be.
"The key is we have a car that now has a big enough window that we can
actually race it," continued Connolly. "That's what we all strive for because
you are not going to make perfect runs every time. You have to have a car that
has a big enough window where you can miss it a little bit and you can still go
from A to B."
Even though he has a win in two final round this year and is 12th in
points, Connolly, an Elyria, Ohio, native, lost in the first round at the last
two races because the car didn't react properly early in the run. Krisher,
meanwhile, has one win and it eighth on points in the car Connolly drove to
eight victories -- including five in a row -- last year.
Connolly has two more attempts on Saturday to climb higher in the ladder
before Sunday's eliminations.
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