ROBERT HIGHT AND CARL EDWARDS EACH LAND SECOND PLACE FINISHES FOR FORD RACING ON BUSY LABOR DAY WEEKEND
Robert Hight, driver of the AAA of So. Cal Mustang, finished second in the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. Hight, who lost to Mike Ashley in the final round, moves up to the top spot in the Funny Car standings and holds a 21-point lead over Mike Ashley.
Carl Edwards was the top Ford driver in the NASCAR Nextel Cup race in Fontana, Calif., finishing second in his No. 99 Fusion. Edwards moves up one spot to fourth in the standings, 349 points behind leader Jeff Gordon.
Jamie McMurray was the top Ford driver in the NASCAR Busch race in Fontana, Calif., finishing eighth in the No. 26 Fusion. McMurray moves up three spots to 33 rd in the standings.
Travis Kvapil was the top Ford driver in the NASCAR Truck race in St. Louis, finishing sixth in his No. 6 F-150. Kvapil remains third in the standings, 194 points behind leader Ron Hornaday.
Colin Braun finished ninth in his ARCA RE/MAX Series debut this weekend in St. Louis. Braun, who is 18-years old, recently signed a contract with Roush Fenway Racing and Ford Racing.
DEARBORN, Mich., September 3 – Robert Hight took a strong second place in the “Super Bowl” of drag racing at the NHRA U.S. Nationals, but the finish was enough to push him into the championship lead for the NHRA Funny Car Championship.
Hight’s second place was one of the highlights of a busy Labor Day weekend of racing, which also saw Carl Edwards follow up his Nextel Cup win at Bristol last weekend with a second place finish in California.
Hight, who won the U.S. Nationals last season, lost to Mike Ashley in the final round but moved up to the top spot in the point standings.
“I am excited to be leaving with the points lead,” said Hight, “(and) if we keep going to the finals, we’ll have this thing wrapped up. That’s easier said than done, but my confidence level is really high right now. The car is good and the team is good. We’ll just keep doing what we know how to do. ”
John Force failed to qualify at Indianapolis for the first time since the 1984 season and drops three spots to sixth in the standings. Ashley Force started the weekend strong, qualifying second and capturing the top E-Time in the first round, but could not get past the second round after spinning her tires.
In the Nextel Cup race, Edwards fought back from an early setback during the first pit stop when he had a collision with Juan Pablo Montoya. Edwards was pulling out of his pit box at the same time Montoya was pulling into his.
“I was really looking forward to this race,” said Edwards. “We were so fast in happy hour, I felt like the stuff Bob has been doing has been great, and then on the first pit stop when they dropped the jack, the 42 [Montoya] was coming in the pit stall in front of me and we pulled right out in front of him and wrecked our car up just a little bit. We fought back from that all day and I was really proud of my guys. The pit stops were awesome.
“It was just a lot of fun there at the end. I wish we could have caught Jimmie (Johnson). He was fading. For a while I thought we were gonna catch him and then we just kind of all evened out and we needed a caution or something, but I’m very proud of my guys.”
Edwards moved up to fourth place in the standings and is the highest ranked Ford driver.
“I feel a lot different, but I’ve learned a lot,” Edwards said when comparing this season to last. “They say you learn the most through your toughest times. Last year wasn’t a disaster by any means, but we didn’t live up to the expectations that we all set. This year is definitely different. I’m sure this week last year I didn’t have a smile on my face right now, and now I do. That’s all you can ask for is to enjoy it, but any of the drivers can tell you that you live and die by this stuff. It’s tough. One week you can be a hero and the next week you’re nothing. It’s a really tough sport on you mentally and I think that having that bad year right off the bat kind of galvanized me a little bit and made me a little bit stronger person and a better competitor.”
Jamie McMurray and David Ragan each finished in the top-10 in the Busch Series race. Ragan started the race with an extremely tight car, but battled through to finish 10 th.
“It was just an interesting night,” Ragan said. “It goes to show that you never give up. That first 50 laps I was ready for the race to be over with already, but to come back with a top 10 effort is great. Busch racing is tough and it’s a lot of confidence for these guys to run in the top 10 with all the Cup teams and Cup guys. It was a lot of fun the last 50 laps, but it wasn’t a lot of fun the first part of the race.”
In the Truck race in St. Louis, Travis Kvapil used a sixth-place finish to pull within 194 points of series leader Ron Hornaday. Kvapil remains third in the standings.
“Our whole weekend was okay,” Kvapil said. “We had a really good truck yesterday and we wrecked our primary. We brought out the back up truck and really struggled in practice and struggled in qualifying. We were pretty good through the corners and slowly worked our way up through there. Good pit stops got us a couple of good adjustments on pit road. We drove a smart race and kept our nose clean and slowly worked our way into the top-10.
“The 33 [Hornaday] is going to have to have some bad luck. We just keep plugging along, doing the best we can. Hopefully, when we’re in Homestead we’ll have a shot at it.”
Colin Braun finished ninth in his ARCA RE/MAX Series debut this weekend in St. Louis. Braun, who is 18 years old and a star in the sports car ranks, recently signed a contract with Roush Fenway Racing and Ford Racing. He will compete in the ARCA RE/MAX Series full-time in the 2008 season.
“I had a blast, obviously,” said Braun. “It’s a fun series to race in. Driving with guys at Roush Fenway and having the support of a manufacturer like Ford is great because it gives me a chance for me to get out there and make lots of laps and learn and gain a lot of experience. Our goal tonight was to finish the race and we did that, so I’m happy about that. I’m just thankful for everybody here in giving me an opportunity to and run.”
Next weekend, the Nextel Cup and Busch Series will both be in Richmond, where the Cup drivers will be competing in the final race before the 10-race Chase for the Nextel Cup.
