This weekend it will be round two of the NHRA’s three-race Western Swing – the FRAM-Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway in beautiful Sonoma, Calif.
While we always look forward to the trip to Wine Country, it’s definitely going to be all business for the U.S. Army Top Fuel team. After our race-day performance in Seattle last Sunday, that has to be the approach.
Unfortunately, we got beat in the quarterfinals by my U.S. Army Racing/Don Schumacher Racing teammate, Antron Brown. It was disappointing, to say the very least. We had a real good car all weekend long leading up to the round against Antron, but for some reason we just overpowered the track and Antron was able to slide by us.
With that early-round loss, we dropped from second in the standings to third behind Larry Dixon and Cory McClenathan, respectively. Needless to say, we’re hoping to rebound at Infineon this Sunday, while reclaiming second-place.
There’s no question my U.S. Army team can overcome adversity and return to form in short order. We are definitely like our Army Strong Soldiers in that regard. We’ll never let anything get us down and we’re going to keep fighting every step of the way.
The good news about this weekend is that we’re going to a track where I’ve had a fair amount of success. I’ve won twice there in the last three seasons. We clearly know what it takes to win at Infineon and we’re going to go in there with a “take no prisoners” mentality.
We’re getting very close to crunch time for the upcoming Countdown to 1. The NHRA’s playoffs, which cover the last six races of the season, begin at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals during Labor Day weekend in Indianapolis.
With three races remaining before we arrive in Indy (Sonoma, Denver and Brainerd, Minn.), we need to string together some good outings so we can be fully prepared. We really need to be on a roll by the time the bell rings.
While we’re not totally giving up on grabbing first place away from Larry Dixon prior to the start of the Countdown to 1, we clearly want to make sure we move back into second given the resetting of the points before the last six events.
Going into Sonoma, we trail Cory Mac by just nine points. From a mental standpoint, it would be nice to be less than two rounds of racing behind the leader versus a full two rounds behind.
Well, it’s time for “The Sarge” to stop rambling. We have to get ready for a battle at Infineon. Hopefully, when you check this page again next week, we’ll be providing details about a big win.
In the meantime, I wish y’all well. As always, please don’t forget our Army Strong Soldiers in your thoughts and prayers. They deserve our attention on a daily basis.
We will connect with y’all right before our final Western Swing stop at Bandimere Speedway outside of Denver for the MOPAR Mile-High Nationals.
