Fram Autolite NHRA Nationals
Sonoma, CA
(July 28-30)
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 Driver Profile |
Melanie Troxel
In-n-Out Burger Dodge R/T |
Troxel clocked a 4.608-second pass at 318.54 mph in Saturday's third session to earn that spot. Her other passes produced a strong 4.640-second lap at 322.65 mph in the opening session (good for No. 2 at the time), a 10.638/72.97, in which she shut off early and coasted to the finish, and a final tire-smoking pass of 9.262/89.64.
"We laid down a good number with the first pass out," she said, "and we were looking forward to going out in the night session and staying in the top three or four spots. Unfortunately, we missed the setup just a little bit and smoked the tires. That moved us all the way back to No. 9.
"We had an opportunity this morning, with the cool air and the marine layer of clouds, to improve and move up. And, we did. We moved up to No. 8.
"The last session wasn't quite what we were looking for, as far as moving up in the field. But, Richard (Hogan, crew chief) feels like he learned something from it. It's better to have learned something today, than tomorrow.
"We were trying a few different things on that last run, and some worked and some didn't. We know what we don't want to do tomorrow. But, we've got some good experience in conditions that will be similar to Sunday's.
"It would be great to get a first-round win, and get that off our back," she said, referring to her first-round losses in the last two races. "I know the Western Swing has been tough for us, so it would be nice to get some rounds and use some of our experience from previous races."
Troxel faces Hillary Will in first round of eliminations on Sunday.
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