He’s always been a realist, so Cory McClenathan recognizes that it would take a virtual miracle for him to pile up enough points during this weekend’s Toyo Tires Nationals to move into the top eight in Top Fuel points.
It is the 17th, and last, event in the opening phase of NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship. Sunday evening at Maple Grove Raceway, the door officially shuts on the 2007 title aspirations of drivers below eighth place.
“It comes down to our FRAM dragster winning the race or going to the finals and having the two drivers ahead of us and a couple behind us have bad weekends before we have a good chance of getting in, ” said McClenathan. “But it’s not in my mind set to make the top eight, especially with the changes we’ve gone through in the last two weeks.
“We’d like to be in the points deal, but realistically, what we are shooting for is to run as good as we can and go testing at Indianapolis (O’Reilly Raceway Park) next week so we can get ready for the last six races, including the Mac Tools U. S. Nationals at Indy (Aug. 31-Sept. 3), and begin preparing for the 2008 season. ”
McClenathan was pleased with the performance of his new team in its first appearance at Brainerd, Minn., last week.
“We had a fairly decent outing, ” he said, noting he qualified 16th and defeated No. 1 Tony Schumacher in the opening round. “I thought Keith Adams, our new crew chief, and Tony Shortall, our assistant crew chief, worked well together. ”
McClenathan, a resident of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., is four wins shy of reaching an impressive 400 round wins. He has 29 victories, including one at Maple Grove in 1997. He also has four second-place finishes in POWERade Series standings and he’s placed in the top 10 in every season he’s run a full schedule.
There is, however, one thing the veteran driver has in mind as the season winds down. “I’m looking to play the role of spoiler over the final six races, ” McClenathan said. “We want to be ready anytime we race any of them. It’ s all part of finding a competitive tune-up so we can run with them next year. ”
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