WORSHAM STAYS 3rd WITH TWO HOT LAPS

Del Worsham drove his Checker, Schuck's, Kragen Impala to a pair of impressive laps on a hot and sunny Saturday in Dallas, boosting his, and his team's, confidence level heading into Sunday's eliminations. Although no one expected to see any shuffling at the top of the ladder, where Worsham sat 3rd after Friday night's run, the object was to show the opposition how well you could negotiate a hotter and sunnier track, and Worsham's 4.202 and 4.178 did just that.

He will face Bob Tasca in round one.

"Today was about getting your race-day tune-up in shape, and we scored an A on the test, I'd say," Worsham said. "That's pretty much exactly what we wanted to do, and the car went right down there twice. The guys told me about our qualifying streak, how this is our 10th straight race with a single-digit spot on the ladder, and even though I knew we'd been doing a lot better in qualifying, I really didn't know that. I think it says a lot about the dedication around here, because things have been pretty much in turmoil for most of the summer, if not the season, but we've put a heck of good second-half together in terms of how the car runs.

"We still don't have much luck on Sunday, landing some huge opponents with a lot of these top-half spots, but we can't worry about that. All you can do is your best, and you can't guarantee that you won't get Robert Hight or John Force even if do really well, so you just deal with that. I'm pretty proud of these guys, to tell you the truth. It's all coming to an end soon, but they're digging in, working hard, and really being focused. Nobody wants to win more than these guys."