A gremlin puts Wilkerson in the No. 14 qualifying spot

Seattle, Friday: Tim Wilkerson would have liked to do better in qualifying today at the Schuck's Auto Supply NHRA Nationals, but a gremlin in his Levi, Ray & Shoup Chevrolet Monte Carlo caused him to end the day in the No. 14 qualifying position.

The sweltering temperatures at Pacific Raceways made qualifying a challenge and Wilkerson's 5.832 in the first session was good for the No. 8 spot. Even though Wilkerson improved on his second run, a blown burst panel in the supercharger kept him from doing better than a 5.303.

"Our first run was about what we thought it would be," said Wilkerson. "Then on our second run it pushed a burst panel out of it again and we don't know why. We have a gremlin in there that we have to find, but we will. It did the exact same thing last week in Denver on the night run. I pedaled it, it went down a little, and then pushed the burst panel out; almost in the same exact spot. Something really fishy is going on, so we have to figure it out.

"We really changed a bunch of things today in the way we run the car. I think it's going to show some promise, but now we're gong to have to wait to find out until tomorrow.