New Funny
Car points leader Cruz Pedregon admits that as little as five years
ago, and definitely any time in his career
before that, he might be
contemplating a different tact heading into this weekend's 23rd annual
Super Start Batteries NHRA Nationals at the Texas Motorplex. But he's
older and wiser now, so he'll resist temptation to change anything on
his Advance Auto Parts Toyota Solara, no matter how tight the
championship chase may be.
Pedregon pushed his way into the
POWERade points lead last weekend in Charlotte with a convincing
runner-up finish in the first of six races in the NHRA's Countdown to 1
playoff system that will ultimately decide the 2008 champion. However,
looking at the current standings, the 1992 champ sees four other racers
within 13 points of his perch, a deficit that could be made up very
quickly with each round of racing worth 20 markers and eight bonus
points available during qualifying.
"In years past, I definitely would
have been thinking we need to step it up and shoot for some big numbers
in qualifying to earn a few extra points," Pedregon admitted. "But I've
been beaten up too many times in the past trying to reach beyond what
we need to do to be successful. It may be boring to hear, but we're not
going to change a thing just because we're in the points lead.
Everything is staying exactly how it's been."