CAPPS PULLS OUT A STUNNER IN FINAL QUALIFYING, NABS NO. 4

Source: Judy Stropus
Date: 02/25/2007

CHANDLER, Ariz. --When Ron Capps drove the Brut Revolution Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car to the starting line for the final qualifying session today at the CSK Nationals, he was sitting in the bottom half of the 16-car field, not exactly where he and crew chief Ed "Ace" McCulloch wanted to be.

By the end of that final pass, however, Capps was not only in the top half, he was No. 4 with the quickest pass of the round, 4.699 seconds, and the second fastest speed (to his teammate Gary Scelzi) of 330.07 mph.

His previous laps of the weekend were 4.750/321.12, 9.706/89.48, and a 4.828/260.91 with the parachutes deploying early. He faces John Force in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday.

"That was a great pass," he said of his last try. "Even the first run we made today when the chutes came out early - we had a bracket that holds the chutes on the body come out - it still ran .82. That was encouraging based on what Ace had tried in the middle of the track. We knew conditions were going to be good this afternoon. I didn't think they would be good enough to run a .69, but that's Ed McCulloch for you. That's what he wanted to do.

"Tomorrow we have John Force first round and I know they're already calling for almost 70-degree temperatures. So, it's going to be completely different conditions, and you know how good we feel about marginal, hot, tricky race tracks. The Brut Revolution team does a great job usually.

"I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight because it's exciting. It's early in the year and you're already getting your juices flowing because you're going to race John Force first round. It can't be more exciting than that."

Sunday, Feb. 25, ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD will telecast three hours of final eliminations at 7 p.m. (ET).

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