Ron Capps qualified the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car in the No. 11 spot for the 23rd annual NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex, the second round of the six-event Countdown to 1 championship playoffs.
He recorded his quickest pass of 4.123 seconds at 299.73 mph in the cooler Friday evening session. His other laps included a 4.597/188.91 (No. 13), a 4.241/273.72 (No. 11) and finally a strong 4.177/292.08 (No. 11) in the last session in the heat.
No. 7 in the point standings, Capps will face No. 5 Tim Wilkerson in the opening stanza of Sunday’s eliminations, a key round in the championship chase.
“Unfortunately, we’re not in the top half of the field, but, to be honest with you, we’ve won a lot of races not having lane choice first round,” said Capps. “I think what’s really important is when you look at the runs on Saturday, especially the last qualifying run, we were one of the top three quickest of that session in the heat. And those are the conditions we’re going to see on Sunday, for sure.
“We know the weather will bring warm, clear skies, and track conditions will be close to 120 degrees. We showed we can run .17 in the heat and we have one of the hottest cars this year.
“It’s a little bit of deja vu having to run Wilkerson, who led the points all year (until after the first playoffs event), much like we did the last couple of years, and of course to have the points taken away like what happened to us last year after the Countdown began. He’s kind of going through the same thing.
“So, it’s a big match-up, and I told the NAPA guys, We have to have our destiny in our hands. We can’t sit back and rely on hoping that somebody else beats one of our Countdown competitors to move us up in points. We have to take care of business ourselves, and I’d rather it be us doing it than somebody else.”
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