Richie Stevens drove Kenny Koretsky’s brightly-colored Nitro Fish/Indicom Electric Pontiac GTX to an impressive Pro Stock performance Friday as qualifying opened for Sunday’s Lucas Oil Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway.
With veteran crew chief Eddie Guarnaccia calling the shots with a new motor in the car, Stevens had the fifth-quickest time in both sessions. He opened with a 6.719-second, 204.60-mph run and came back later in the day to lower the mark to 6.710 at 205.44 mph. The team has two more runs Saturday.
Guarnaccia said he “tried to do some things I’d done before” with the motor/car tuneup. “Overall, it was a good first day, making two good runs like we did. We expect Saturday’s first run to be in coolest conditions of the day and we’re going to take a shot at it. I’ll work on the tune-up. We picked up our elapsed time and speed on the second run—all that’s very positive.”
The team skipped the three-race Western Swing and is making its first POWERade Series appearance in a month.
“We tested for two days at Chicago and Eddie made some changes to the car that helped us,” said Stevens. “To be in the top 12 is great and to be in the top five is awesome. I’m thrilled with it. We have a good race car.”
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