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QUALIFYING ROUND RECAPS

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q3 (5:14 p.m.): Eddie Krawiec now holds the track elapsed time record with a 7.111-second hit, a move he made just one pair after Hector Arana Jr. set it himself (7.135). He didn’t quite have the speed Arana laid down (188.86, also a track record), but Krawiec made a very efficient trip down the strip after Andrew Hines and Matt Hines made a great tune-up call with the clutch on his Harley-Davidson Street Rod. All three of Krawiec’s 60-foot times have been within .004 second of one another. Teammates Karen Stoffer and Joey Gladstone both hung onto their spots by improving on their previous times and Stoffer currently holds the bump spot with a 7.337. 

PRO STOCK Q3 (5:32 p.m.): It looked like Tanner Gray raced on a different planet than everyone else during the penultimate qualifying session. The second-year racer made a 6.932-second pass to slide by Greg Anderson by .001 second and improve on his own time by more than three hundredths of a second. If everything holds (it won’t) he’ll race Alan Prusiensky in the first round. That’s because the driver of the Dodge Dart made his first pass of the weekend and failed to get off the line under power. Jason Line and his teammate, Anderson, earned the rest of the bonus points.

TOP FUEL Q3 (6:10 p.m.): Leah Pritchett didn’t better her field-leading 3.806 but she did again after the quickest car in the session with a 3.813. As it was last night, Steve Torrence was next quickest after posting a 3.835 for another two bonus points for the points leader. Tony Schumacher continued his unparalleled string of earning at least one bonus point per race after his U.S. Army dragster clocked a 3.870 that moved him into the No. 5 spot behind Pritchett, Torrence, Clay Millican, and Mike Salinas.

FUNNY CAR Q3 (6:45 p.m.): Robert Hight made the quickest run of the session and the only three-second pass of the frame with a 3.990 but remained No. 2 behind teammate Courtney Force’s Friday 3.966. Force, who was the performance leader in both of Friday’s sessions, had to abort her run early. JFR patriarch John Force was hot on his hired gun’s heels with a 4.000 while Ron Capps picked up the final bonus point with a 4.024. Cruz Pedregon, who blew the body off in Q1 Friday, made a nice bounce-back run with a 4.053.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q4 (7:28 p.m.): Eddie Krawiec will start from the No. 1 position for the first time this season, while teammate Andrew Hines slightly improved and will race from the No. 3 spot on Sunday. Hector Arana Jr. did not improve while matching his track speed record 188.86 mph mark in the final session of qualifying. That was the tone of the session as most racers marginally improved if they did at all. Angie Smith and Angelle Sampey made a couple of the biggest moves, as both women jumped three hundredths of a second. Karen Stoffer moved two hundredths and stayed in the field, keeping Kelly Clontz from making the show. 

First-round matchups (lane choice first): Eddie Krawiec vs. Karen Stoffer; Hector Arana Jr. vs. Ryan Oehler; Andrew Hines vs. Joey Gladstone; Matt Smith vs. Jim Underdahl; Hector Arana vs. Jerry Savoie; Scotty Pollacheck vs. Angelle Sampey; LE Tonglet vs. Angie Smith; Cory Reed vs. Steve Johnson

PRO STOCK Q4 (7:45 p.m.): Deric Kramer scored his second pole position of the season at his home race with a 6.929. He’ll be chasing his second win of the season, starting with a matchup against Alan Prusiensky in the first round. Kramer barely hung onto the pole, as teammate Greg Anderson made a 6.93-second pull just behind the Colorado racer to slide into the No. 2 position. Tanner Gray qualified No. 3 with a 6.932 in the ultra-tight doorslamming category. The finalists from the NHRA New England Nationals, Erica Enders and Chris McGaha, will face off in the first round at Bandimere Speedway. Enders gets lane choice, and a shot at revenge. 

First-round matchups (lane choice first): Deric Kramer vs. Alan Prusiensky; Greg Anderson vs. Joey Grose; Tanner Gray vs. Will Hatcher; Jason Line vs. Matt Hartford; Alex Laughlin vs. Fernando Cuadra; Drew Skillman vs. Jeg Coughlin Jr.; Vincent Nobile vs. Bo Butner; Erica Enders vs. Chris McGaha

TOP FUEL Q4 (8:10 p.m.) Brittany Force, who lost her Q3 pass when the car wouldn’t fire (the result of a bad switch in the safety system) bounced back with 3.808 that jumped her into the No. 2 spot behind Friday leader Leah Pritchett’s 3.806. Force didn’t stay that close for that long as Pritchett, in the final pair of the session, ripped to a 3.799 at 327.19 mph, a new track speed record. Steve Torrence made his best run of the event, a 3.811, for the No. 3 spot.

First-round matchups (lane choice first): Leah Pritchett vs. Terry Totten; Britanny Force vs. Jim Maroney; Steve Torrence vs. Bill Litton; Clay Millican vs. Greg Carrillo; Richie Crampton vs. Terry McMillen; Blake Alexander vs. Mike Salinas; Tony Schumacher vs. Doug Kalitta; Antron Brown vs. Scott Palmer

FUNNY CAR Q4 (8:30 p.m.): Courtney Force recovered from a third-session stumble to make her best run of qualifying in the final session, a 3.949 that earned John Force Racing its 300th Funny Car pole position and Force her ninth of the season. Jack Beckman stepped up to a 3.973 for the No. 2 spot; he’ll get a bye in the first round as Todd Simpson stayed in the field despite a body-destroying trip into the sand trap Friday that put him out of action for the weekend. Robert Hight’s 3.982, his third three of the weekend, put him in the No, 3 spot.

First-round matchups (lane choice first): Courtney Force vs. Terry Haddock; Jack Beckman vs. Todd Simpson; Robert Hight vs. Jeff Diehl; Cruz Pedregon vs. Jonnie Lindberg; John Force vs. Matt Hagan; Tommy Johnson Jr. vs. Bob Tasca III; Ron Capps vs. J.R. Todd; Shawn Langdon vs. Tim Wilkerson

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE NO. 1 QUALIFIER EDDIE KRAWIEC: "I think there’s something to be said about how good the program is right now and how consistent we’re running. We’ve been making good, clean laps down the track. Yesterday I thought I left a little on the table by not making a clean lap, but today I went back and corrected my bike setup and made a straight pass down both lanes. That makes me feel a lot more comfortable. 

"We for sure let a 7.10 get away from us there. I’m not sure if we could have gone 7.09 there, but it’s been going 1.07 to 60-foot every lap and the track was really good on that last pass and I think we underestimated it a little bit. It only went 1.083 or 1.084. I think if we had made another 1.073 right there we would have had a chance to put a 7.10 on the board right there which would have been really awesome."

PRO STOCK NO. 1 QUALIFIER DERIC KRAMER: It’s a great feeling to run as well as we did today. I have a ton of laps here, so I feel like that probably helps a little bit. Obviously I’ve got the new Chevy Camaro from K.B. Racing supplying the horsepower but it was a lot of fun and it’s something I’ll remember a long, long time. 

"We pretty much just cleaned up our Q2 run, or really our Q1 run. We just fixed what we did wrong, just little stuff. Some gear ratios, the launch RPM, just some small things. 

On avoiding racing fellow American Ethanol driver Will Hatcher: "It’s nice to have the opportunity to have two American Ethanol cars in the second round tomorrow for sure."

TOP FUEL NO, 1 QUALIFIER LEAH PRITCHETT: “We were definitely putting the coals to it and licking our chops. We’re on the mountain at our sponsor’s race for Dodge, and we’re giving it everything we’ve got. 

“We got a new front half on our dragster after Epping – typical after a certain number of runs – and I’m sure glad we did because at halftrack I’m not sure the front wheels were on the ground. That thing was just dancing and dancing and dancing. I knew we were cooking. The scoreboards at this track are so far away from the finish line so that when you pull the ‘chutes and lift off the throttle  I looked right up and saw that 3.79, and it’s very few times you get to feel what your crew feels when they see that light up.”

FUNNY CAR NO. 1 QUALIFIER COURTNEY FORCE: “It felt awesome. We had nothing to lose and were watching the cars in front of us and knew that it was either going to be Dad that took us out of the top spot or that we’d improve. It was a solid pass.

“We had a hole out in Q3 right at the hit of the throttle, but we were able to make up for it in Q4. The car actually shut off a bit early, so my speed was down to only 309 [mph] so I’m curious what it might have run. Obviously, the conditions are going to be different on raceday but we’re looking forward to it. We feel like we’ve got a really good racecar.”

FEATURES

It’s been a season of peaks and valleys for Leah Pritchett and crew chiefs Todd Okuhara and Joe Barlam. After having one of the quickest cars in 2017, they won just five rounds in the first six events in 2018 before wowing everyone with a wire-to-wire win in Atlanta, qualifying No. 1 and winning the event. Two races later she was runner-up in Chicago behind Clay Millican but hasn’t been back to the final since then.

In Bristol, she suffered her first opening-round loss since the season opener in Pomona and enters this event on the heels not only of back-to-back semifinal efforts in Norwalk and Epping, but a No. 1 qualifying effort at the New England event as well.

Entering Saturday in Denver, she’s back atop the field, providing some more momentum as the regular seasons begins its stretch run.

“It’s what we need, it’s those small moments that keep us going and we live off of them,” she said. “We suffered a real punch with our data acquisition earlier this season that threw us off a little bit but coming back here, where we were No. 1 and building off of that – same fuel pumps, and working on the overdrive – makes us feel good. We had that little bit of a slump – myself, too, as a driver – but the crew doesn’t let that get to them and I’m not letting it get to me. I’m working away on it just like they are.”

Tony Schumacher has had a lot of success at the Mile-High Nationals over the years, with three wins (2005, 2008, 2016) and six runner-ups (1997, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2011, 2015). Although Top Fuel’s winningest driver only has one victory this year (in Bristol), he and new-for-2018 crew chief Mike Neff are riding an impressing qualifying streak.

After qualifying No. 8 at the season opener in Pomona, the U.S. Army dragster has qualified fifth or better at the 12 events since, which includes three No. 1 qualifying efforts (Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Richmond) to up his record career total to 87 poles, as well as three No. 2s and a pair of No. 3s. 

Schumacher and Neff have the only nitro car that has earned at least one qualifying bonus point (meaning they had one of the three quickest cars in at least one qualifying session) at all 13 events this season, adding a class-leading 47 points (equivalent to more than two rounds of racing) to their score. They’ve earned at least one point in 23 of the 47 qualifying sessions this season.

“It’s a process out here,” he explained of their progress, which most recently translated into a semifinal finish in Epping. “We have to keep working hard and battling our way to improve each weekend. The big picture is what matters. We moved back into second in the championship standings [in Epping]. We have a good car. We’re going down the racetrack, and we’re hard to beat. It takes a lot of luck and some small miracles to beat this team right now, and we haven’t had the luck. We’re saving it for the end when we need it.”

Bill Litton made his Top Fuel debut at this event in 2016 in the Worsham Family dragster and ran the three-race Western Swing, qualifying in Denver and Sonoma before missing the field in Seattle, so, after sitting out the 2017 sesonn, now he’s back where it all started, with another seven races of experience under his safety belts this season.

This is the first event, though, where he’ll have Del Worsham’s sole attention as Worsham is not running his Funny Car here, as he usually does when Litton runs the dragster.

“It’s a good weekend for us to work on some of the little quirks we’ve seen in the car to get it ready for the rest of the season,” he said. “I’m going to try to run as many events as I can and keep working on this deal.”

The team’s Friday plans for a warmup pass were scotched when the team discovered a bent valve just before they were warming up the engine before Q2.

“The guys were just lashing the valves before we started it when they found it,” he said early Saturday. “I was all suited up and ready. We’re not sure when it happened, but maybe when we were putting the head on. We’re waiting on UPS to deliver the parts we need. Now that we’ve got that out of our system we can get down to business and make our usual banzai run and get deep into the field. Usually we can throw one down and get in there.”

It was an all-nighter for crew chief Aaron Brooks and Glen Huszar trying to regroup after the devastating Q1 blower explosion that disintegrated “El Chicano,” the brand-new Toyota Camry Funny Car body around driver/owner Cruz Pedregon on its maiden voyage.

“We got to watch the sun rise this morning,” Brooks said wearily. “[The explosion] was a bad one. We think something went wrong in the valvetrain but we’re still not sure. It did a lot of damage. I’ve been rebuilding my [clutch- and fuel-] management system all morning.”

The run was probably going to be a low-4.0 pass – exactly what Brooks was looking for as a tune-up to the evening hero run – before things went wrong without much warning for Pedregon.

“It dropped some cylinders right as I was thinking about lifting off of it,” said Pedregon. “It blew up right as the thought crossed my mind because they’re no sense wringing it out here with the altitude.”

With “El Chicano” now in ruins, the Snap-on crew pulled out “El Viejito,” Spanish for “the old man,” a body that is the oldest Camry in Pedregon’s inventory and most recently was on the team’s show car.

The team does have another new Camry body in Brownsburg, Ind., which will be trucked to Sonoma for the team to wrap and mount for the duration of the Western Swing.
 

A trip to “Thunder Mountain,” where the altitude is in excess of 5,800 feet, not only affect the human body’s ability to breathe, but also, of course, affects the internal combustion engines that rely on enough oxygen to help burn the fuel. For the nitro teams, coming from near sea-level New England Dragway calls for a tune-up almost as far away as New Hampshire is from the Rocky Mountains.

“The changes we have to make as not as big as we used to do,” said Dean Antonelli, co-crew chief on the Infinite Hero Funny Car. “Back in the day teams used to have two fuel pumps – one for Denver and one for everywhere else. The Denver one was 10-12 gallons [per minute of flow] than the other one because there’s just enough air up here to burn our normal load. Our tune-ups are little closer now so that we can just use the main jet to take away four gallons [per minute].”

Not that there’s not still a Denver-only part in the trailer. To make up for the lack of air, the crew chiefs make their own with the supercharger, using a smaller blower pulley to speed it up as much a seven or eight percent from, say, 38 to 52 percent -- which might not sound like much, but it’s double the change a crew chief would ever consider making during the course of an event at sea level.

“The most we’ve ever made, which would be after a big air change at Houston or somewhere, is 3.5 percent,” he said. “And that would be a big change.”

The team switches to head gaskets that .070-inch slimmer to boost compression and run right up the 90-percent nitro limit, where typically they might run about 88 percent, and also take some secondary weight off the clutch.

“I’m curious to see how the fuel cars as a whole perform with the new track prep, especially with the track cooler they use [a cooling system embedded in the track from the starting line to about 300 feet to keep the starting line temperatures cooler],” he said. “Even though you’re going from a cooled track to a not cooled track, it does a good job of keeping the tires cooler for when they get to the hot track. You abuse the tire the most during the first second and a half because you have a huge slip rate, so if we can keep the core cooler, it’s way better for us.”

If you weren’t at Bandimere Speedway Friday to see Texas Funny Car independent Todd Simpson run, you won’t see him again at this event after the second-generation racer’s trip into the sand trap in Q1 after the parachutes failed to come out.

The offroad excursion ripped the right front fender off of his Dodge Charger body, an ex-Matt Hagan record setter, and although the team has its old Monte Carlo body at home, they do not carry it in their smaller trailer.

“It’s just a shame to come all this way for one run,” said Simpson, whose 4.462 was actually the eighth best run of a tricky session. “We figured we’d use that pass as a baseline to tune on, and it was a good one.

“I reached up and pulled the ‘chutes, but the cable didn’t come far enough to open the pack; maybe like a half-inch away. I knew I was in trouble and was on the brakes but couldn’t get it stopped in time.

To add insult to injury, the parachutes did finally come out once Simpson began to plow through the sand trap.

Greg Anderson drives the quickest car in Pro Stock by almost any standard. His average elapsed time is 6.595, a full .008 second quicker than Matt Hartford and .009 second quicker than teammate Jason Line. Those are on runs quicker than 6.8 seconds (successful runs), something Anderson does more often than anyone else in the category (92.2 percent of the time). 
That trend continued on the mountain. Anderson rocketed to the top of the leaderboard, scoring four bonus points and securing the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot. 

"This is the best I've run here on a Friday in 10 or 15 years,” said Anderson. “It seems like every year we come here and we're behind the eight ball and then we try to climb out by the time we get to Sunday. So, we're way ahead of schedule this weekend and that's a great feeling. We have a solid foundation and very fast cars and I think we can make them better.”

That’s a great feeling for a racer who, despite being second in the points, could use a little boost entering one of the toughest stretches in the season. Anderson has been outspoken about wanting his first win of the season sooner rather than later as the Countdown to the Championship looms. 

"This weekend starts off the Western Swing, and we've always looked at these three races as a marathon; it's a real challenge for all of the teams out here,” said Anderson.” Our shop is all the way on the other side of the country, so when you leave for these races out West, you better make sure you have everything you need to get through them."
 
"The good news is that Team Summit loves a challenge. It doesn't get much tougher than this, and for our Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaros to be flawless out there, it's going to take a total team effort. Each of these next three racetracks are completely different, so our goal is to figure out what each one needs and try not to make any mistakes."

Sterling, Colorado native Deric Kramer gets especially busy when he comes home to Bandimere Speedway for the Dodge Mile-High NHRA Nationals. The now-touring Pro Stock professional hasn’t seen a dip in his popularity in his first trip back to Denver since making the change to K.B. Racing power. 

“There are still a ton of people here, it’s still hectic as hell during the home race,” said Kramer. “Everyone is here, and everyone is watching so we’ll see how it goes.”

So far, so good for Kramer, who sits just behind teammate Greg Anderson in the qualifying order with a 6.935-second hit. Along with Kramer is his father and tuner Dave Kramer, who is driving the family Comp car this weekend. 

“It’s a little different and the schedule doesn’t help us at all because it’s his class, motorcycle and then us and it’s like that for both sessions,” said Deric. “We’ll be okay though, we’ll make it work.”

As if that wasn’t enough, Will Hatcher is running Dodge Dart Pro Stock machine that Deric raced in Denver just a season ago. So, it’s a busy weekend for the Kramer family. 

Now halfway through the season with a win under his belt, Kramer is very happy with his engine leasing deal to say the least.

“This is where I expected to be, absolutely,” said Kramer. “I said once before that this is where our season really began. We were originally supposed to start our season in Topeka and every race prior to that was kind of our pre-season testing. So, Topeka, the Western Swing and Indy was our real racing schedule. So, we’ve got a lot of experience now.”

Now that Kramer is a seasoned professional, did he give his dad any tips for the weekend?

“The same advice he’d give me: Don’t screw it up.”

Vincent Nobile finds himself 10th in the qualifying order after a pair of sessions at the Dodge Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway, but he’s moving in the right direction after setting a solid baseline in the first session. 

“The way we’re running the car this year is a little bit different than what we were doing last year so we gotta make some changes,” said Nobile. “For the most part those notes last year apply. It gets you really close. I’m sure we’re not going to be right on with the first run but that’s all part of coming up here. It’s just part of the deal.”

There will be even more changes coming to the Mountain View Tire team soon enough. Elite Performance teammate Erica Enders installed an experimental engine in her Chevy Camaro during the NHRA New England Nationals to great effect (a final-round appearance) and that new engine will eventually make its way to the rest of the team cars. 

“Coming forward, yes, but not this weekend because we’re up in Denver and it’s not worth running here in this kind of air,” Nobile said, referring to the thin Denver air. “Plus, we weren’t ready to run it this weekend anyway. Hopefully it keeps going well for Erica and hopefully we’ll keep moving in that direction.” 

Matt Smith and his wife, and fellow competitor, Angie Smith put together a great race at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk and are hoping to do more of the same in Denver. Matt raced to pole position while Angie reached the semifinals before an engine failure cost her the round against Jerry Savoie. 

“We’ve just worked on motors since we got home and we’re just ready to go,” said Matt. “We just freshened up eight motors and got ready for Angie and me to have plenty of stuff ready here. I think we’re poised to make a great run for the Countdown. We need to just keep that up over the next few races.”

Matt is seventh and Angie is eighth in the Pro Stock Motorcycle standings with four races (including the Dodge Mile-High NHRA Nationals) left to earn points for the two-wheel competitors. The good news is both racers are heading in the right direction at the right time and this is a race Matt has past success at. 

“Last year I got beat in the final, I red lit in the final,” said Matt. “I always run well here, she has struggled a little bit, but I’ve made some changes to her bike that I think that will help. She’s running the Buell and I’m running the Victory so there’s a big difference in those combinations, but I think I’ve got a really good handle on both of them.”

Matt is currently qualified fourth, while Angie is sitting in ninth after a pair of runs at Bandimere Speedway. 

Eddie Krawiec feels both he and teammate/tuner Andrew Hines have a better handle on how to 60-foot their Harley-Davidson Street Rods after struggling with new body designs at this time a season ago. That showed up in the results last night thanks in large part to the clutch package tuner Matt Hines threw at Krawiec’s Street Rod, which got to the 60-foot mark in 1.074 seconds during the first session and 1.078 seconds in the second. 

“I expect to go in the 1.07s. That’s what I expect. If we don’t do that, then we’re missing,” said Krawiec. There’s no reason with what we know now… because we went from being consistent 1.07s to flicking into the 1.08s. We’re now staying in that range. We should come here and run a 1.075.”

Mission accomplished on Krawiec’s bike. It was a different story on Andrew’s Street Rod, which ran in the high 80s and low 90s. That might be a case of the team trying something different on the first day of competition, especially since they’ll run at the exact same time on Saturday. 

“Trying to learn how to make those bikes 60-foot made us better because it made us understand how the clutch works,” said Krawiec. “We know how to look at it. I would say Andrew and I have a way different way to look at the clutch now. I guess for us now, we think we have really good motorcycles up here but it all depends on how much our performance during the second half of last year translates to our performance this weekend.”

Making two clean passes despite disparate 60-foot times gives the Harley-Davidson squad an opportunity to attack the track in an aggressive way during the third and fourth qualifying session. Krawiec holds pole position with a 7.132-second pass, while Hines is about a hundredth behind with a 7.146. 

“Making a good lap gives you something to build on,” said Krawiec. “We don’t run here that often, nor do we run in altitude that often, so it’s a pick up where you left off type situation.” 

It turns out LE Tonglet stays busy when he’s away from the race track. 

“Working on my house, working on elevators, working at the fire house, bought a truck I have to fix,” said Tonglet. “I need a four-door truck for the baby.” 

So, is racing his Nitro Fish Suzuki more work or a vacation? 

“A vacation I guess you would call it,” he said with a laugh. “It’s a few days off from busting my ass. Hopefully we can come out here and make a good pass. We usually struggle to start the weekend.”

After the first day of qualifying Tonglet sits in the middle of the pack with a 7.23-second pass, a full tenth of a second behind pole-sitter Eddie Krawiec. That’s not going to be good enough for the former champion’s liking. 

It’s been an interesting season for Tonglet, who started out racing for his family before rejoining White Alligator Racing and Jerry Savoie. His performance has picked up since then and he averages a 6.891-second elapsed time, which is within a few-hundredths of class-leader Andrew Hines. He’s also one of the best leavers in the business with a .0246 average reaction time. 

“We’ve been running good, and we picked up against Eddie (in the semi’s in Norwalk),” said Tonglet. “We were within thousandths on him at the Christmas Tree. So, he was on the better side of the race this time. I think on the year he’s beat me three times and I’ve beat him twice.”

That rivalry could well decide the Pro Stock Motorcycle championship depending on how many times they meet up during the Countdown to the Championship. 

PHOTOS

The pits at Bandimere Speedway were packed with fans getting up close and personal with the teams before the final day if qualifying.

Mopar-sponsored drivers like Jack Beckman, Jim Campbell, Leah Pritchett, and Matt Hagan signed autographs for fans.

The traditional Mello Yello autograph session also honored NHRA legends Kenny Bernstein, right, and Judy Lilly, who were welcomed by John Bandimere Jr.

These two young fans wheeled off with some exciting souvenirs, cast-off parts from one of the teams.

Mopar Funny Car star Tommy Johnson Jr. and NHRA's Alan Reinhart taught some fuel-racing basics to eager fans in the pits during the popular Nitro School segment.

Another popular stop for fans is the Dodge Demon simulators in the midway, allowing fans to take simulated rides down the dragstrip and stack their performances against others.

John Robinson's turbocharged, diesel-burning Top Dragster always gets a rise out of the crowd.

David Kramer, father of Pro Stock standout Deric Kramer, finished as the No. 1 qualifier in Comp with this Hemi-powered A/DA.

The amphitheater-like grandstands at Bandimere Speedway are packed with fans watching final qualifying.

As he pursues his 105th career national event win, which would tie him for second all-time with Frank Manzo, Dan Fletcher is being assisted by his wife, Donna.

PREVIEW

Leah Pritchett scored six No. 1 qualifying efforts in last season’s breakout performance with crew chief Todd Okuhara, including Denver, a huge coup for the Dodge-backed driver. Halfway through this year’s qualifying rounds she’s atop the pack with her eyes on her third No. 1 of the season after last night’s sizzling 3.806 and while the hot weather and less prep have her well shy of her track record of 3.733, she feels there more performance on top for her Dodge 1320 rail in the night session today.

Funny Car points leader Courtney Force is halfway to what would be her ninth No. 1 in 14 events this season. Her Brian Corradi-tuned Advance Auto Parts Chevy had low e.t. of both Friday sessions to pocket the maximum six bonus points and, just as exciting for her, her teammates, Robert Hight and her dad, John, sits Nos. 2 and 3 behind her on the qualifying sheets. Two-time Mile-High Nationals champ Cruz Pedregon will try to recover from a devastating Q1 blower explosion that destroyed his primary body.

Another Friday, another provisional pole for Greg Anderson, who sits atop the qualifying sheet on the back of his first run off the trailer. The driver of the red Summit Chevy Camaro may not have a win this season, but he certainly has one of the best cars in the class. He’s also got a well-tuned machine for the thin air at Bandimere Speedway, which puts him well ahead of the curve before eliminations get underway on Sunday. The same goes for K.B. Racing teammate Deric Kramer, who calls Colorado home. The two are at the top of the sheet as things stand, with Elite Performance competitor Alex Laughlin just a couple thousandths behind. 

It’s all Harley-Davidson at the top of the Pro Stock Motorcycle qualifying sheet. Eddie Krawiec made a pair of great runs on his Street Rod, while Andrew Hines made a directionally correct move in the second session after a so-so first run. All the while, Hector Arana Jr. didn’t do so poorly either on his incredibly fast Lucas Oil TV EBR – he made one of the fastest runs in Bandimere Speedway history, while Krawiec set the track e.t. record. There aren’t any bonus points to come with that, though, which is what racers will chase today in addition to improving their times. That should be possible since racers will compete in nearly identical conditions Saturday as they did Friday.