Championship Drag Racing

O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals
Bristol, Tenn.
(April 30-May 2)

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Brandon Bernstein Budweiser Lucas Oil Top Fueler

Reports: Sunday Pre-race

Bristol, Sunday: Persistent rain showers played havoc with NHRA O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals competition at Bristol Dragway, postponing eliminations to Monday. The Budweiser Lucas Oil Top Fuel team advanced to the semifinals, maintaining their second place position in POWERade Top Fuel standings, continuing to pad their advantage over third place and the remainder of the field.

Budweiser/Lucas Oil Top Fuel driver Brandon Bernstein qualified fourth with a 4.535-second elapsed time at 327.98 mph.

When final eliminations got underway Monday, Bernstein had a great opening round run turning on the win light for the team with his best run of the weekend, 4.524/325.92, to defeat Bruce Litton's 5.366/188.89.

"Tim (Richards, crew chief) and Kim (Richards) and the team had the car hopped up for that run," said an excited Bernstein. "It carried the front end and it was really hauling down there. It was a lot of fun to drive with the front end up like that."

Bernstein had a large margin of victory against quarterfinals competitor Cory McClenathan. Bernstein clocked a very consistent 4.561/325.06 while McClenathan smoked the tires at the hit of the throttle and coasted across the finish line with a 27.280/68.45.

The semifinals were a marquee match between Bernstein and Tony Schumacher, the only two Top Fuel drivers to have won races this season. In fact with Kenny driving for his injured son last year, no other team other than the Bernstein or Schumacher team has won since the September 2003 Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis.

Bernstein was eliminated in the final four with a red light or foul start, while Schumacher won the round and the event.

Bernstein is 81 points out of the Top Fuel lead.

Bristol, pre-race: Brandon Bernstein and the Budweiser/Lucas Oil Top Fuel team would welcome an encore presentation of last season's performance at Bristol Dragway. The team is energized and focused following their second victory of the season April 18 at Houston Raceway Park and their consistent performance would rank them among the favorites to win in Bristol.

The team dominated competition at the 2003 event, grabbing the No. 1 qualifying position, (Bernstein's first low qualifier honor), set the elapsed time (4.530) and mph (328.38) track records, won the event, and took the POWERade Top Fuel point lead after just six races in Bernstein's rookie season.

Ironically going into this year's fourth annual O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals presented by Quaker State, Bernstein has one point more in NHRA POWERade Top Fuel standings than last year at this time. He sits in second place, 38 points out of the lead.

"Performance-wise, last year at Bristol was probably the best weekend we've had in our short race career," said Bernstein. "Any time you can have a clean sweep at a track it's a good feeling. You accomplish everything you strive for.

"We're excited about coming back to Bristol. It's a great facility and it really showcases our sport."

The victory at Bristol last season was Bernstein's third and final trip to the podium before an accident May 18 in Englishtown, N.J., sidelined him for the remainder of the season.

A fully-recovered Bernstein is back this season and has won two of the first five events in his sophomore year.

"This season is about more than just the beer wars," said Bernstein. "There are about six or seven other teams out there hammering on each other really hard that could easily win at any event. We're in the thick of the battle but it's going to be about stamina, winning rounds, having the hot weather tune-up in addition to the cool weather combination."

The Budweiser/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster will carry a special "Born On" commemorative paint scheme at Bristol, highlighting Anheuser-Busch's commitment to fresh beer through the "Born On" date found on every Budweiser package. Budweiser has designated April as "Freshness Month: and select days each month throughout 2004 as "Freshness Days" offering millions of adult beer drinkers across the U.S. an opportunity to taste Budweiser the same day it is packaged.

Same-day Budweiser will be offered for purchase April 30 in local Bristol bars, club and restaurants and May 1 at Bristol Dragway.