Jerry Toliver was perplexed following an opening-round loss Sunday in the Torco Racing Fuels Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park. A clutch problem caused the tires to smoke soon after he hit the throttle.
The result enabled Gary Densham to cruise to the win in 5.234 seconds, 279.21 mph. Toliver’s ROCKSTAR/AutoZone Toyota Solara coasted across in 11.637 seconds, 78.33 mph.
“It was extremely disappointing because we had consistent qualifying runs and felt we could win some rounds, ” said Toliver. “We believe we could have beaten his 5.23, but. obviously, we won’t know. We hadn’t smoked the tires once during the weekend. We can’t give up laps like that. ”

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