The good news for Del Worsham was that his Thursday run in Pomona was “good” enough to land in the 12th spot after the first day of qualifying, which means it at least counts as a real time, but the bad news was the inescapable knowledge that the 4.214 was not nearly quick enough to make the eventual race field. With another single run on Friday, and a pair of laps on Saturday, the Checker, Schuck’s, Kragen driver knows he’ll have to step it up on this, his final weekend behind the wheel of the CSK Chevy.
“I can’t believe it hung on for 12th as it was,” Worsham said. “I think we had the tune-up right, but the blower was just down on boost for that lap, and that cost us a bunch of hundredths, if not a tenth. We went up there predicting a 4.10 would be low for the session, and that a 4.14 would be a nice solid lap. We weren’t going to be too aggressive on this first run, so the goal was to get a good 4.13 or 4.14 on the board and go from there. We have to analyze the blower situation and get that sorted out for tomorrow, because making sure you’re in the top 12 going into Saturday is going to be important, as in ‘huge’ if you ask me. It’s only supposed to get hotter by Saturday and Sunday, so we want to make sure we’re in good shape.”
For the record, Worsham’s predictions were right on the money. The low in the session was indeed a 4.10, posted by Mike Neff (4.105), while a 4.14 was also a good solid lap. John Force ran the only one (4.144) and currently sits 6th with it.
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