Cory McClenathan drove the FRAM Top Fuel dragster to No. 5 during qualifying today for the 23rd annual NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex. It’s the third straight race that he has qualified in the top half of the 16-car field and the 12th time this NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series season.
McClenathan made his quickest qualifying run during the Friday evening session with an elapsed time of 3.866 seconds at 313.00 mph. His other qualifying runs were a 3.912/308.14 (No. 7) earlier on Friday, and a 7.935/78.66 (No. 5) and 3.932/306.95 (No. 5) today. He’ll have lane choice over No. 12 qualifier Joe Hartley in the opening round of Sunday’s eliminations.
“We made three solid runs and in the only one that we didn’t make it down the track I thought it was spinning the tires,” said McClenathan, No. 3 in the points. “After we looked at the computer it looked like it would have made it, but when you’re driving at these speeds everything happens so quickly you have to do what you think is right. The last thing you want to do is go out there and spread a bunch of parts all over the track and hurt a motor when you don’t need to.
“I feel pretty good about our chances tomorrow. We qualified No. 5 and that’s a good spot to be; we’ll have lane choice in the first round. The only problem is that we’re on the same side of the ladder as our teammate Tony Schumacher, who we could end up facing in the semifinals. Our biggest thing is to just win the first round and put some points on the board and go from there. With the playoffs coming down to the nitty-gritty here in the next five races (of the Countdown to 1), the FRAM team just needs to remain steady.”
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