Backstretch Motorsports

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Mike Neff raced to the provisional top spot in Funny Car Friday as he looks to collect the first No. 1 qualifier of his career at the eighth annual O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

Neff drove his Old Spice Ford Mustang to a 4.783-second pass at 321.04 mph to become the provisional top qualifier at Bristol Dragway.

Tony Schumacher and Kurt Johnson (shown at left) were also No. 1 qualifiers in there respective categories at the eighth of 24 events on the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

“We really had a good weekend (in St. Louis),” said Neff, who’s coming off his first runner-up finish of his career. “To be able to come here and have a couple good runs on Friday, you just want to continue the momentum and right now I just feel like we’ve started to get a little good mojo going.”

Defending event winner and NHRA legend John Force stood in the seventh spot after two rounds of qualifying, while current points leader Tim Wilkerson sat No. 4 in the field.

Defending POWERade Series world champion Schumacher piloted his U.S. Army dragster to a 4.502 at 327.59 provisional low qualifying effort. It would be Schumacher’s second No. 1 qualifier of the season, 49th of his career and third at Bristol Dragway.

“It’s very difficult to make power and Alan Johnson knows how to make it,” said Schumacher. “We’ve got a great crew chief, plain and simple. We can run in a wide variety of conditions and fortunately for us we can run well on race day.”

Defending event winner Brandon Bernstein currently sits in the seventh spot, while second-place driver in the point standings, Antron Brown, was fourth with two qualifying sessions complete.

Coming off his win in St. Louis, Pro Stock’s Kurt Johnson drove his ACDelco Chevy Cobalt to a track-record time of 6.687 at 206.16 to lead the 16-car field. He is in position to earn his second No. 1 qualifier of the season, 29th of his career and first at Bristol.

“We kind of threw everything at it and it hooked up,” said Johnson. “You know, this is the best racetrack that we’ve ever raced on at Bristol Motor Speedway. You know the area is Thunder Valley and this is just a cool place to race.”

Current Pro Stock points leader Jason Line sits in the fifth spot while defending event and POWERade Series world champion Jeg Coughlin is in the 16th spot in the field.

Qualifying continues Saturday with sessions at 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. Sunday’s eliminations begin at noon.

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Results Friday after the first two of four rounds of qualifying for the Eighth annual O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals presented by Q at Bristol Dragway, eighth of 24 events in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Qualifying will continue Saturday for Sunday’s final eliminations.

Top Fuel — 1. Tony Schumacher, 4.502 seconds, 327.59 mph; 2. David Grubnic, 4.526, 311.85; 3. Doug Kalitta, 4.536, 320.66; 4. Antron Brown, 4.542, 330.15; 5. Hillary Will, 4.570, 323.50; 6. Doug Herbert, 4.578, 316.97; 7. Brandon Bernstein, 4.581, 325.92; 8. J.R. Todd, 4.584, 328.30; 9. Rod Fuller, 4.584, 316.23; 10. Cory McClenathan, 4.619, 312.50; 11. Bob Vandergriff, 4.636, 319.37; 12. Larry Dixon, 4.648, 313.73. Not Qualified: 13. Troy Buff, 4.657, 308.50; 14. Morgan Lucas, 4.795, 312.50; 15. Alan Bradshaw, 12.549, 75.76.

Funny Car — 1. Mike Neff, Ford Mustang, 4.783, 321.04; 2. Jim Head, Toyota Solara, 4.785, 323.89; 3. Ashley Force, Mustang, 4.792, 324.98; 4. Tim Wilkerson, Chevy Impala, 4.802, 318.24; 5. Robert Hight, Mustang, 4.803, 311.63; 6. Tony Pedregon, Impala, 4.821, 319.67; 7. John Force, Mustang, 4.821, 308.78; 8. Bob Tasca III, Mustang, 4.823, 318.02; 9. Ron Capps, Dodge Charger, 4.831, 317.79; 10. Cruz Pedregon, Impala, 4.831, 313.29; 11. Melanie Troxel, Charger, 4.839, 318.62; 12. Del Worsham, Impala, 4.842, 322.65. Not Qualified: 13. Mike Ashley, 4.845, 304.12; 14. Bob Gilbertson, 4.847, 318.77; 15. Jerry Toliver, 4.848, 308.57; 16. Tony Bartone, 4.896, 285.47; 17. Jack Beckman, 4.933, 318.84; 18. Scott Kalitta, 4.956, 308.00; 19. Gary Scelzi, 5.001, 247.16; 20. Tommy Johnson Jr., 5.068, 256.70; 21. Gary Densham, 5.263, 211.93.

Pro Stock — 1. Kurt Johnson, Chevy Cobalt, 6.687, 206.16; 2. Greg Anderson, Pontiac GXP, 6.699, 205.66; 3. Warren Johnson, GXP, 6.716, 206.57; 4. V. Gaines, Dodge Stratus, 6.728, 203.80; 5. Jason Line, GXP, 6.734, 205.82; 6. John Nobile, Stratus, 6.734, 204.54; 7. Mike Edwards, GXP, 6.736, 204.54; 8. Johnny Gray, Stratus, 6.737, 204.39; 9. Larry Morgan, Stratus, 6.737, 203.58; 10. Matt Hartford, Stratus, 6.742, 204.48; 11. Allen Johnson, Stratus, 6.747, 204.91; 12. Tom Hammonds, Cobalt, 6.747, 203.12. Not Qualified: 13. Steve Schmidt, 6.752, 204.45; 14. Todd Hoerner, 6.755, 204.76; 15. Rickie Jones, 6.765, 203.98; 16. Jeg Coughlin, 6.765, 203.71; 17. Greg Stanfield, 6.769, 203.31; 18. Ron Krisher, 6.775, 203.58; 19. Jim Yates, 6.775, 202.58; 20. Dave Northrop, 6.782, 203.37; 21. Rickie Smith, 6.782, 202.97; 22. Max Naylor, 6.788, 201.70; 23. Steve Spiess, 6.789, 203.09; 24. Kenny Koretsky, 6.807, 202.88; 25. Vinnie Deceglie, 6.933, 176.79; 26. Justin Humphreys, 14.248, 58.56; 27. Ben Watson, 16.239, 66.19; 28. Dave Connolly, 25.794, 25.39.