Wilkerson saves his best for last
BRAINERD, Saturday: Funny Car points leader, Tim Wilkerson made two qualifying attempts in the heat of the day at the Lucas Oil Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway and made his best run so far on his last. Wilkerson will go into race day from the No. 12 position.
On his first pass today, Wilkerson had a mishap. A header fell off and so he only posted a 4.781 at 176.65 mph. He knew he had to step it up in the final session in order to keep up with his competition. And step it up he did, making the third quickest run of the round and his best of qualifying, a 4.233 at 276.92 mph.
“The middle of the track is tough,” explained Wilkerson, “especially when the sun is on it. But I think we figured it out today. We were on a good run in the first qualifier but lost a header. And we went a little lean at the end on our last pass and that hurt us. It probably was on a 4.19 run. So, I’d say we’re getting better.”
In the first-round of eliminations tomorrow, Wilkerson will face the guy that made the quickest run of the last qualifying session, Mike Neff.
“I think we’ll have something for Mike in the morning,” said Wilkerson. We’re going to try and make it go in the first-round and hope he slows down. I think we’ve found a piece to our puzzle, but you never can tell because one day it loves you and the next day it don’t.”
