If Cruz Pedregron has proven anything at the last two national events – Pomona, Calif., and Las Vegas this weekend – his team has figured out a qualifying tune-up.

Fresh off grabbing the No. 1 qualifying spot at the previous event – the Winternationals – the veteran driver is on the verge of duplicating the feat at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Pedregon clocked a 3.910-second elapsed time at 326.71 mph in Q1 Friday, which was good enough for the provisional pole at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at Vegas.

“Yeah, the track was really good even with not a lot of cars running on it, but really for us, it’s been trying to back the car down,” Pedregon said. “We showed up; we had one extra month to bask in our glory from winning, dominating Pomona. And I think that we thought we were pretty cool, and so we opened the show in Gainesville, just smoking the tires. 

“That car was an animal to drive. We go to Phoenix, and the same thing; it’s trying to run low ET every run, and it’s just all over the place. And Pomona, we started to get it figured out, and we went low there, but it’s just a matter of backing down a little bit and trying to go down the track and just be really smart, So many of these cars that win these races, they’re just kind of hovering around qualifying. So, we know that it’s nice to have a low ET., but we’re looking for that consistency.”

Pedregon qualified eighth and 13th at the Gatornationals and Arizona Nationals, respectively, and lost in the first round at both races. He qualified No. 1 at the Winternationals and lost in the second round to Ron Capps.
 
“Well, I’m just trying to drive it straighter, and the car’s just, it really was all over the track,” said Pedregon, who pilots the Snap-On Tools Dodge Charger Hellcat SRT. “I’m sitting up higher in the seat. I’m tightening my belts tighter and just trying to get better visibility out of it; I’ve had the car wanting to run it. Gainesville was going to run probably .82 or .83 in one of those runs, and I just flat drove it out of the groove and up against the wall.

“And so, for me, it’s like a bull; I’m trying to hang on to it is as hard as I can. And I told JC (crew chief John Collins), ‘Hey, don’t back it down too much. I can handle it.’ But at the end of the day, you still have to have a car that’s forgiving, and we just didn’t have that lately. We’re starting to see flashes like we had in Pomona so it’s going to warm up (Saturday) so we will see, I’m sure someone will probably try to fire one out there. And 91 to 93 is not too far I think, who knows? But we’re grateful for it. But we’re not looking to go into Sunday with that low ET. We’re just looking to... If we can wrangle some more low 90s (Saturday) and just keep the car hooked up, we’ll feel good about Sunday.”

If Pedregron holds the No. 1 spot through Saturday’s two qualifying sessions, it will be the 64th of his career. And Pedregon, who is 11th in the season points standings, isn’t complaining about his powerful car.

“It’s a good problem to have, honestly,” Pedregon said. “Yeah, you could always slow it down. The hard part is to get them to go fast, especially our car. It’s running good from the hit of the throttle all the way through the middle. And I would say guys are a little better than us. If there are any weaknesses or speed at the finish line, guys will run a little faster than us, so I’m sure JC and Ryan (Elliott), and Lee (Beard) will tweak that a little bit.

"Hey, speed matters, right? But yeah, we’re good. We’re a fast car, man. But I feel confident that we’ll race well also. And I love the four-wide. It’s the quad. You saw the last run; that could be a final round there. I think it was (Ron) Capps, myself, (Matt) Hagan, and I think (Robert) Hight; that’s, as they say, primetime players right there.”

Having Collins, Elliott, and Beard in his stable is something Pedregon sees as a positive.

“JC is still the crew chief, and he’s making the calls,” Pedregon said. “I think where Lee comes into play is he’s there to bounce things off. But I think, really, at the end of the day, JC’s still the guy in the driver’s seat. He’s still making the calls along with Ryan. Ryan’s a younger guy, it’s his first opportunity as a consistent crew chief and he’s doing a great job. So, it’s really a team effort.

“I know that sounds boring, but really, it’s all those guys. I think one of the things we worked on in the offseason, the two weeks we were off, the one week I think we were off, we were really trying to get the clutch to apply smoother, and they came up with something. It’s working here, and it’s paying off. But hey, not over yet still. But it’s so great to come up here and to do that. But yeah, as you can see, I think that was a good race. There were a couple of .93s and a 94. That’s a heck of a race. And we’re just glad to be a part of that group.”

Cooler tracks, hot tracks, Pedregon believes he has the Funny Car that can succeed at any venue.

“Oh yeah, it’ll translate,” he said. “Yeah, I think we can run anywhere. And now I think we’ve run in humid, dry sea level. The car is fast everywhere, so I’m very confident that no matter what conditions, we’ll be fast. It’s just a matter of I’ve got to keep it in the groove. The car’s a wild, wild child man. It’s trying to buck me right off that seat. I’m just trying to hang on and do my job and let the car speak for itself.”