BAZEMORE MISSES ONE ROUND, QUALIFIES NO. 12 IN SEATTLE

Seattle, Saturday - Whit Bazemore missed one round of qualifying today for the Schuck's Auto Supply NHRA Nationals at Pacific Raceways and had to settle for No. 12 position for Sunday's Funny Car eliminations.

Bazemore's first two attempts on Friday in unusually hot conditions for the Northwest, with temperatures soaring into the 90s, produced a 5.476-second elapsed time at 262.64 mph and a 4.953/309.13 - good for No. 8 at the time.

The Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car then experienced an oil-pressure problem during the warm-up for the first session, resulting in an engine change which was not completed in time for a pass under cooler temperatures due to a welcome a cloud cover.

In the final session, under a hot sun, Bazemore lost traction at the hit and coasted to an 11.093/76.61 lap.

"Honestly, we struggled here a little bit, especially today," he said. "Yesterday we went down the track fine, but today we had a problem with the engine in the pit area this morning and couldn't make this morning's run. That really hurt us. That was the best session of the day.

"To kind of make up for that we pushed it pretty hard and aggressively in the final pass and the track just didn't hold what we were trying to do. Having said all that, we're still very, very confident about our potential for tomorrow. We've got a race car that we know we can win the race with; it's just a matter of my doing my job up there and everyone else on the team doing their jobs perfectly. If we do that, we'll end up in the winner's circle, because that's what it takes."

Bazemore faces Phil Burkart Jr. in first round of Funny Car eliminations on Sunday.