Jerry Toliver drove the Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car to his second quarterfinal finish of the year at the FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals at scenic Infineon Raceway today. He moved up one position to No. 15 in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car point standings with his effort.
Toliver, a California native, kicked off eliminations rounds by defeating Melanie Troxel with an elapsed time of 4.156 seconds at 299.60 mph to Troxel’s tire-smoking 4.986/176.72, then squared off against Tony Pedregon in the quarterfinals, enjoying lane choice. The Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge began to smoke the tires near the finish line and Toliver slowed to a 4.911/167.78 pass while Pedregon claimed the win, posting a 4.335/260.41 run.
“All in all, it was a great day just to be going rounds,” said Toliver, who joined Don Schumacher Racing this season. “The bottom line is we missed a golden opportunity to move up in the Funny Car point standings. All the guys in front of us who are close to us in the points and fighting for that ninth and 10th spot went out early. But the track got tricky and we just overpowered the race track in the second round.
“The Rockstar Energy Drink car has definitely turned the corner in terms of performance. Our early incremental numbers are good and we’re qualifying well. We just got a bad break today. It happens.”
The next race for Toliver and the Rockstar Energy drink team is the NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, Minn., August 8-10.
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