BRANDON BERNSTEIN SCORES SECOND CONSECUTIVE VICTORY AND TAKES NHRA TOP FUEL POINT LEAD

COMMERCE, Ga. (April 29) -- Brandon Bernstein celebrated his 14th career victory in 19 final round showings at the Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals. His second consecutive victory moved him into the NHRA Top Fuel point lead.

“Our crew chief Tim Richards just seems to know what the track can take by the time we get to the finals,” said Bernstein. “He’s a magician when it comes to getting that win light in the final round. I just know when we get to that last round we always have a good shot at winning and that I need to concentrate on doing my job.”

Bernstein qualified eighth at Atlanta Dragway with a 4.529-second elapsed time and top speed of the Top Fuel category, 329.42 mph.

In the opening round of eliminations, Bernstein rolled into the staging beams to face David Grubnic. Bernstein won the round 4.548/324.75 while Grubnic struggled with loss of traction.

In a bizarre turn of events, Bernstein was the only driver in the countdown to eight that was still in competition after the first round.

“We owe a tip of the helmet to Tim (Richards, crew chief), Kim (Richards) and the team for a great run,” said Bernstein. “It went straight down there without any problems on a track that was starting to get pretty hot.”

In the quarterfinals, Doug Kalitta fouled out with a red light start while Bernstein took the round win with a 5.166/194.18.

“I knew Doug had a red light,” said Bernstein, “because I saw the win light come on in our lane. We were hazing the tires a little bit down track so we were fortunate to get by that round.”

Doug Foley lost traction in the semifinals while Bernstein ran low elapsed time of the round, 4.614 at 324.05 mph.

“We’ve got a very good race car right now,” said Bernstein. “Tim made a big change on that run trying to get the car to calm down after it hazed the tires. The change worked. Now let’s hope we can put a good run together for the finals.”

In the money round, Bernstein faced his third Doug of the day, this time, Doug Herbert. In a strong final, the Budweiser/Lucas Oil dragster clocked 4.662/305.01 to Herbert’s 4.714/297.02.

Though Bernstein concedes he will never get over the loss of his friend Eric Medlen, this victory was a little easier emotionally than his previous win in Las Vegas two weeks ago.

“I guess time will help heal the loss of Eric (Medlen), but the pain will never go away completely,” said Bernstein. “Whenever we were in the final round, Eric was always at the top end to greet me and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to erase that from my memory. J.R. Todd (Top Fuel driver) has taken over that role and this time he put the winner’s medal around my neck. We both really miss Eric.

“Our team loves to win races. That’s what we’re out here to do. Hopefully we’ll remain in the countdown to eight, but when it comes to that point, everything is going to have to be triple and quadruple checked if we want to make the countdown to four and the countdown to one for the championship. It’s still a long season, but we’re going to enjoy the victories as they come along.”

Follow the Budweiser/Lucas Oil Top Fuel team at Kenny Bernstein Racing. Please visit our sponsors at Budweiser , Lucas Oil , Initializing...., AlphaTrade.com - Get real time stock quotes, charts, market news, level 2, portfolios and more (OTCBB:APTD) and AlphaTrade FN - Free stock quotes, stock market news & personal finance..