Cory McClenathan faced teammate Tony Schumacher in a rematch of last weekend’s Houston Top Fuel final during the second round of the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals. However, the excitement wasn’t on the starting line – it was back in the staging lanes determining which lane the drivers would run.

Schumacher had the lane choice and Cory Mac’s former tuner , who is now wrenching for his opponent took the left lane, apparently second-guessed him and went to the right, only to return to his original selection.

"In the back of the staging lanes we were told we were going to have the right hand lane," explained McClenathan. "Then we were swapped over to the left and I thought this might play in our favor. And, obviously, at the last second Mike said, 'OK, we want the left-hand lane back,' after what they saw in front of them (Brandon Bernstein beating Larry Dixon out of the left lane).

"Lane choice is the crew chiefs' prerogative. We kind of had it tuned up for the right lane to begin with, so I wasn't too concerned about the lane changes. You can't let that mess with your head. You just go up there and do your job as a driver.”

Cory McClenathan faced teammate Tony Schumacher in a rematch of last weekend’s Houston Top Fuel final during the second round of the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals. However, the excitement wasn’t on the starting line – it was back in the staging lanes determining which lane the drivers would run.

Schumacher had the lane choice and Cory Mac’s former tuner , who is now wrenching for his opponent took the left lane, apparently second-guessed him and went to the right, only to return to his original selection.

"In the back of the staging lanes we were told we were going to have the right hand lane," explained McClenathan. "Then we were swapped over to the left and I thought this might play in our favor. And, obviously, at the last second Mike said, 'OK, we want the left-hand lane back,' after what they saw in front of them (Brandon Bernstein beating Larry Dixon out of the left lane).

"Lane choice is the crew chiefs' prerogative. We kind of had it tuned up for the right lane to begin with, so I wasn't too concerned about the lane changes. You can't let that mess with your head. You just go up there and do your job as a driver.”

After the two launched with nearly identical reaction times, McClenathan struck the tires late in the run and slowed to a 4.415-second pass at 201.19 mph as Schumacher claimed the win with a 3.937/309.70.

"It got to that point where it seemed that everybody was struggling in that right-hand lane and we had the same problem: early wheel speed and it just kind of came unglued out there. I tried to pedal it once and twice, and saw Tony way out in front. I thought, 'just save the car, save the motor and go on to the next event'.” 

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