For the third consecutive day, weather played a major role in qualifying for the Kragen O’Reilly Winternationals, as morning rain and hail delayed the start of Saturday’s action while plummeting temperatures forced NHRA officials to cancel the final Pro Stock qualifying session. With one final opportunity to improve their standing, Greg Anderson and the Summit Racing team made the most of it, posting the quickest time of the session at 6.556-seconds with a top speed of 210.77 mph to move up to the second starting position for Sunday’s final eliminations. Despite this solid showing, he felt there was room for improvement.
“When the track is cold like it was today, it just loses grip,” said Anderson. “At the same time, we produce more power in the cooler temperatures, so you have to be careful to not be too aggressive. After being a little too conservative with our set-up on Thursday, we went a little too far in the other direction today, and our Summit Racing Pontiac barely made it through. We definitely couldn’t have given it any more, because we definitely overspun the tires, but I know we can run better.
“You’re just going to have to make your best guess as to what the racetrack is going to hold tomorrow, because once again conditions will be completely different. It all depends on the sunshine. The track needs it, and we’re really hoping we get it, because then these cars will really run well. If not, we’ll have to back it down and tiptoe down the track.
“We’ll see what happens. It’s going to be a tuner’s race, and it’s going to come down to who makes the best decisions. It’s the first race of the year, and if anyone has any questions about how tough these conditions were, they can look at Mike Edwards (2009 Pro Stock champion and defending Winternationals winner who did not qualify) sitting on the sideline. We’ll just have to see which crew chiefs get closest to the bulls-eye, and with the guys we have on this team, I have to say I like our chances.”
The four-time Winternationals winner also applauded the decision by the NHRA to cancel the third qualifying session on Saturday afternoon due to the unseasonably cold track temperature, which was at 62 degrees and falling.
“For some reason, when these racetracks get below 65-70 degrees, it gets tricky” said Anderson “It can be very dangerous, so I certainly support the decision. My hat’s off to the NHRA for making the right move, because it could have gotten very ugly.”
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