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2012 NHRA: Ron Capps Las Vegas II Qualifying Report: No 8
When Ron Capps saw that his NAPA Carlyle Tools Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car was seeded No. 8 for Sunday's championship eliminations he quickly saw his glass as being half full.
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"Good. That means we get to pick our lane for the first round," he said of finishing as one of the eight quickest Funny Cars in the Big O Tires NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Although Capps expected to qualify better, he also was keeping an eye on Don Schumacher Racing teammate Jack Beckman, who started the event with a 23-point lead over him in the hunt for the NHRA Funny Car world championship.
Beckman, who qualified seventh, earned one bonus point in qualifying to extend the margin to 24 points with only eight rounds of eliminations remaining in the season, including the finale in two weeks at Pomona, Calif.
"All this talk about gathering (qualifying) points is over," Capps said. "Now you have to concentrate on winning rounds on race day. I've said it time and time again this year when we might have struggled a little in qualifying and not finished in the top-five that what matters is Sunday. Tomorrow is race day and I haven't gone into eliminations this year when I didn't believe we had a shot to win the race.
"This is what's it all about. Tomorrow will be a pressure-packed day. That first round will be fun for the fans and agonizing for the drivers waiting to see what happens. All we can do is go up there and do what we know we know how to do; if we win races it won't matter what anyone else does."
The following are Capps' qualifying results from The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway near Las Vegas:
FUNNY CAR
No. 1 qualifier: Cruz Pedregon (Cruz Pedregon Racing) 4.066 sec., 312.50 mph
RON CAPPS, NAPA Carlyle Tools Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 8
First-round opponent: Tony Pedregon
FRIDAY QUALIFYING
Session 1: 4.098 sec., 308.78 mph
Session 2: 8.023, 82.90
SATURDAY QUALIFYING
Session 3: 4.128, 307.37
Session 4: 4.191, 301.40
UNDERSTANDING THE POINTS
You'll hear drivers talk about "little points" and "big points" as the season winds down in the Full Throttle Series.
The following is an explanation of how drivers in NHRA's pro categories can earn points.
In each of four qualifying sessions, the three quickest in each session earn up to 3 bonus points; 3 for the quickest, 2 for second quickest and 1 for third quickest. A maximum of 12 qualifying points can be earned at an event.
Points are awarded incrementally after final qualifying: 1st, 8 points; 2nd, 7 points, 3rd, 6 points; 4th, 5 points; 5th and 6th, 4 points; 7th and 8th, 3 points; 9th-12th 2 points; and 13th-16th, 1 point.
During championship eliminations, each of the 16 qualifiers are assured 20 points, then each round winner gets 20 points to the event winner will receive 100 points.
There also is a 20-point bonus for a driver sets an NHRA national elapsed-time record and leaves that event as the record-holder.
Every driver who enters that event and makes a qualifying attempt gets 10 points.
A perfect weekend would produce 150 points.
NHRA FULL THROTTLE EVENT: Las Vegas
Sunday: Championship eliminations, 11 a.m.
WEATHER.COM FOR LAS VEGAS
(As of 5 p.m. Saturday)
Sunday: High 82, 0 percent of rain
ESPN2 SCHEDULE:
Sunday: 8 -11 p.m. ET, eliminations
NEXT FULL THROTTLE EVENT
Nov. 8-11; Auto Club of Southern California NHRA Finals, Pomona, Calif.
PaddockTalk Perspective
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