BRANDON BERNSTEIN JOINS QUICKEST TOP FUEL FIELD IN NHRA HISTORY

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 13) – Though the Kenny Bernstein –owned Budweiser/Lucas Oil team was hoping for a better showing in the NHRA CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals season opener, the team’s performance was definitely in the range of the Top Fuel competitors they know they’ll have to hunt down if they want to capture the POWERade championship this season.

At Pomona Raceway, Brandon Bernstein drove to the No. 5 qualifying spot in the quickest Top Fuel field in NHRA history with a 4.474-second elapsed time at 326.40 miles per hour.

In the opening round of eliminations, Bernstein defeated Brady Kalivoda with a solid 4.500/328.62 to Kalivoda’s 4.727/241.32.

In the quarterfinals against Morgan Lucas, the aggressive tune-up on the Budweiser/Lucas Oil dragster turned into an outbreak of tire smoke. Lucas took the round win with a 4.498/319.14.

“The tire smoke surprised us a little bit,” said Bernstein. “We thought the track could hold what we were putting into the tune-up, but I guess not. Though we were sidelined earlier than we had hoped, we weren’t the only team surprised by out-guessing the conditions. Several of the big dogs went down in that round bitten by tire smoke.

“So in terms of championship points, we’re all kind of rolled in there together. It will make it interesting for the next event in Phoenix in two weeks.

“We’re undefeated there and have won the last two races, so hopefully our good fortune will hold at Phoenix.”

In POWERade championship standings, Bernstein is tied for sixth place and is 62 points out of the lead.

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