Championship Drag Racing

Pontiac Performance NHRA Nationals
Columbus, OH
(May 19-22)

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Phil Burkart N/A Funny Car

Columbus, Saturday: Phil Burkart drove his blue Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Toyota to a final lap 4.930 in the heat of the afternoon on Saturday. The run was no improvement on his Friday night 4.817, but more importantly it was indicative of the team's ability to run in the same sort of heat and sun they're more likely to face on Sunday.

"We missed pretty badly on the first run today, smoking the tires early, but we bounced back really well and we're pretty happy with that last pass," Burkart said. "Sunday isn't going to be anything like Friday night, so you better be able to find a way to go A-to-B in the heat. Wrapping up the day with a nice full lap gives us a solid baseline for eliminations. It will be tough on Sunday, it always is, but we have the data we need to give them all a battle.

"Between the ridiculously tight conditions on Friday night, to the more typical summer conditions today, there were quite a few very smart people having a hard time adapting. You saw some of the best minds in the sport taking what were really just educated stabs at what they should do, and they weren't connecting on a lot of them. We went 1-for-2 today, which on some days isn't much to shout about but today you feel pretty good about it. It's nice to head into Sunday on a solid lap."

Burkart will face Ron Capps in round one.

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