By the time the sun set on pro qualifying on Friday at the Texas Motorplex, you could toss the proverbial blanket over the Funny Car class and cover just about everyone in the top 12, possibly with the exception of Cruz Pedregon who jumped well ahead of everyone else during both sessions, and then finished the day with a large 5-hundredths gap on Johnny Gray, who landed 2nd.
Wilk put two good laps on the board, landing 3rd after the first session and then settling into the 11th spot in the nightcap, despite improving on his time.
His 4.187 happened to be No. 11, but it was just a hair more than 4-hundredths out of the No. 2 spot, less than the gap that separated the top two positions.
“That was about as close as you’ll see a Funny Car session, with everyone running right in the same ballpark,” Wilkerson said.
“Even when we’re all basically running about the same, the order does have to shake out in a certain way because we can’t all be tied for fourth place, and today the hundredths and the thousandths just worked against us a little. We can run with just about anyone here, and I probably cost us a hundredth by rolling in a little too deep, so we’re just going to concentrate on making good runs in the heat tomorrow. Getting ready for race day is the priority now.”
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