Del Worsham battled a hot and slippery track in the opening Sonoma qualifying session, finishing the first attempt in the No. 4 spot versus the competition (with a 4.264), and then battled a mean setting sun and a stacked performance deck in Q2. With the evening sun closing in on the horizon directly behind the Christmas tree, and with nearly ever driver who went before him posting numbers quicker than Worsham’s earlier effort, the Techron/CSK driver had to battle the elements and battle the class to grab a top-12 spot. He successfully achieved both, putting a 4.132 on the board to bump right back into the field, and when all the clutch dust had settled, Worsham held the 6th spot going into Saturday’s twin daylight sessions.
“The first run might have even held up better than it did, because there were a number of huge delays after we ran and the rest of the group got to run on a much different track than we were on,” Worsham said. “When the number turned out to be good enough for 4th I was pretty happy, though not because I thought the 4.26 would end up being enough for the top 12, but because I knew it was going to put us way back in line for the late run, and this track gets better by the minute as the sun goes down.
“As we got ready, everyone was knocking more and more off the bump spot, and we were pretty well buried outside the top 12 by the time we ran. The only downside to the late run here is if you’re in the right lane. When you over there, the sun is setting basically right behind the tree, and it’s pretty darn hard to see what’s going on. We got it done, though, and put a good lap on the board. I’m pretty sure we’ll end up racing on Sunday from the exact same spot, considering it’s supposed to be even hotter tomorrow. That will work. As long as we’re racing, we can win.”
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