When Spencer Massey was named Don Prudhomme’s Top Fuel driver last November the consensus among many was the NHRA Top Fuel rookie would shine. After all, he did win an IHRA Top Fuel title in his rookie season.

The only problem is that the U.S. Smokeless dragster didn’t get the memo. Various mechanical issues kept the team at bay.

The final day of qualifications during the NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals didn’t present those challenges. When Spencer Massey was named Don Prudhomme’s Top Fuel driver last November the consensus among many was the NHRA Top Fuel rookie would shine. After all, he did win an IHRA Top Fuel title in his rookie season.

The only problem is that the U.S. Smokeless dragster didn’t get the memo. Various mechanical issues kept the team at bay.

The final day of qualifications during the NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals didn’t present those challenges.

“We knew the car was capable of it,” Massey explained of his pole grabbing run. “We had just been kind of stand-offish with it trying to be consistent. On that run we were obviously trying to go from a mid-80 to a low-80 and it went 4.82. Obviously the car is capable of it and people are just now seeing it. We've been on a downward slope and we're trying to get out of it.”

The first step to recovery was using one of their three allotted nitro test sessions following their third consecutive first round defeat in Las Vegas. It didn’t make all the difference in the Atlanta performance but it didn’t hurt either.

“I'm glad that we did that,” Massey said of the six test runs they made on the Monday after the event.

“We now have two test sessions left so we'll try to save them for the countdown.”

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