WORSHAM HEADS TO SONOMA ONLY 27 BACK, WITH FOUR TO GO
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/d_worsham.jpg" alt="d_worsham" align="left"borders="0"/>
Sonoma, Calif. (July 22, 2008) -- When asked, Del Worsham will admit that his 2008 Western Swing has not yet paid off in terms of the necessary round victories he needs to move into the Countdown playoff field. Though he qualified well at both Denver and Seattle, including a No. 2 spot last weekend Pacific Raceways, not far from Puget Sound, Worsham has been unable to turn on any win lights to this point, losing to Robert Hight on the mountain and Ron Capps in the woods. There were certainly a few unlucky moments in both situations, but in the larger view it can only be considered very lucky that Worsham enters this weekend's Fram-Autolite Nationals, in Sonoma, still only 27 points behind Jack Beckman, who currently holds down the 10th spot in the standings.
As the Countdown cut-off approaches, Sonoma represents the first of the "final four" with only a quartet of races remaining before the tour shifts to Charlotte for the first time, starting off the Countdown at a beautiful new facility in the heart of stock car country. With a total of 16 rounds available to be claimed during this final push, Worsham simply has to find a way to win at least two more than Beckman, while also winning one more than Bob Tasca, who sits in 11th, only five points ahead. Of course, to do that he has to win at least two.
"They're not going to back up and hand it to us," Worsham said. "We can gain a few like we did in Seattle, where our qualifying spot helped us pick up six points on each of those guys, but it's not very likely we can make up the difference that way. I also don't see any reason why we should think either of those teams will miss the cut at any of the last four races, so we have to assume we simply have to win two more rounds than Beckman, and at least one more than Tasca.
"Of course, you can't just look forward, either. Gary Scelzi is sitting right behind us, just a little more than a round (31 points) behind, and Melanie Troxel and Tony Bartone are pretty much within realistic range. It's kind of simple, really. We have to win rounds. No one is going to hand anything to us, and it really doesn't matter what you do on Friday and Saturday, as long as you qualify. We were the perfect example in Seattle, being number two and winning the Full Throttle Award, only to lose in the first round. We just have to win, and I don't mind winning ugly, either. Any win light is a beautiful thing, right now."
The best approach for Worsham would be to begin his 4th-quarter rally right here in wine country, stringing some round wins together in order to move right back up into the 10th spot and force the others to chase him for the final three races. To that end, Worsham certainly has some history on his side when racing at Infineon Raceway. He was runner-up at the race last year, won it in 2001, and has qualified consistently well at the Northern California showplace track on most occasions. Over the past six years, Worsham has averaged a No. 5 qualifying spot, led by a pair of No. 2 positions in 2002 and 2003, and a pair of 3rd-place slots, in 2005 and 2006.
"2002 was the year we really turned the corner at Sonoma, kind of making it a place where we felt we had a handle on things," Worsham said. "In '02 and '03, it seems like we were running neck-and-neck with (John) Force every qualifying session, and we were nearly tied for the top spot. Doing that will give you some confidence, believe me, and we've felt pretty good about our chances at Infineon ever since. Last year, we were 5th on the ladder and just had a great day on Sunday, right up until Force edged us out in the final by 11-thousandths of a second.
"Putting another one of those days together, whether we'd be lucky enough to win in the final or not, would be great right now, to say the least. We've done it in the past, and we've made some great late-game saves before, so we need to start scoring right now. You can't complete a comeback until you start it, if you know what I mean."
Worsham will once again be running his "special edition" Chevron Techron Impala at this weekend's race, completing his two-race assignment for the highly-appreciated "major associate" sponsor. The car proved to be quick and fast in Seattle, where it qualified just shy of the top spot, and the same carbon fiber shell aced the ultimate test earlier in the year, when it won the Houston race with K&N Filters colors adorning it.
"It's a nice body, and the boys think it's a lucky car, so it has that going for it," Worsham concluded. "Ugly cars can win, and beautiful cars can lose, so it's our goal to put the two good things together and see if we can make a beautiful car look even prettier in the Winner's Circle. If we got points for style, this car would already have earned them, so we'll just have to focus on each lap and hope we can create a permanent record of the Techron car in the history books."
That, in and of itself, would be the "rally" Worsham needs to overtake the lead with the clock ticking down. He's 27 down with four to go.
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/d_worsham.jpg" alt="d_worsham" align="left"borders="0"/>
Sonoma, Calif. (July 22, 2008) -- When asked, Del Worsham will admit that his 2008 Western Swing has not yet paid off in terms of the necessary round victories he needs to move into the Countdown playoff field. Though he qualified well at both Denver and Seattle, including a No. 2 spot last weekend Pacific Raceways, not far from Puget Sound, Worsham has been unable to turn on any win lights to this point, losing to Robert Hight on the mountain and Ron Capps in the woods. There were certainly a few unlucky moments in both situations, but in the larger view it can only be considered very lucky that Worsham enters this weekend's Fram-Autolite Nationals, in Sonoma, still only 27 points behind Jack Beckman, who currently holds down the 10th spot in the standings.
As the Countdown cut-off approaches, Sonoma represents the first of the "final four" with only a quartet of races remaining before the tour shifts to Charlotte for the first time, starting off the Countdown at a beautiful new facility in the heart of stock car country. With a total of 16 rounds available to be claimed during this final push, Worsham simply has to find a way to win at least two more than Beckman, while also winning one more than Bob Tasca, who sits in 11th, only five points ahead. Of course, to do that he has to win at least two.
"They're not going to back up and hand it to us," Worsham said. "We can gain a few like we did in Seattle, where our qualifying spot helped us pick up six points on each of those guys, but it's not very likely we can make up the difference that way. I also don't see any reason why we should think either of those teams will miss the cut at any of the last four races, so we have to assume we simply have to win two more rounds than Beckman, and at least one more than Tasca.
"Of course, you can't just look forward, either. Gary Scelzi is sitting right behind us, just a little more than a round (31 points) behind, and Melanie Troxel and Tony Bartone are pretty much within realistic range. It's kind of simple, really. We have to win rounds. No one is going to hand anything to us, and it really doesn't matter what you do on Friday and Saturday, as long as you qualify. We were the perfect example in Seattle, being number two and winning the Full Throttle Award, only to lose in the first round. We just have to win, and I don't mind winning ugly, either. Any win light is a beautiful thing, right now."
The best approach for Worsham would be to begin his 4th-quarter rally right here in wine country, stringing some round wins together in order to move right back up into the 10th spot and force the others to chase him for the final three races. To that end, Worsham certainly has some history on his side when racing at Infineon Raceway. He was runner-up at the race last year, won it in 2001, and has qualified consistently well at the Northern California showplace track on most occasions. Over the past six years, Worsham has averaged a No. 5 qualifying spot, led by a pair of No. 2 positions in 2002 and 2003, and a pair of 3rd-place slots, in 2005 and 2006.
"2002 was the year we really turned the corner at Sonoma, kind of making it a place where we felt we had a handle on things," Worsham said. "In '02 and '03, it seems like we were running neck-and-neck with (John) Force every qualifying session, and we were nearly tied for the top spot. Doing that will give you some confidence, believe me, and we've felt pretty good about our chances at Infineon ever since. Last year, we were 5th on the ladder and just had a great day on Sunday, right up until Force edged us out in the final by 11-thousandths of a second.
"Putting another one of those days together, whether we'd be lucky enough to win in the final or not, would be great right now, to say the least. We've done it in the past, and we've made some great late-game saves before, so we need to start scoring right now. You can't complete a comeback until you start it, if you know what I mean."
Worsham will once again be running his "special edition" Chevron Techron Impala at this weekend's race, completing his two-race assignment for the highly-appreciated "major associate" sponsor. The car proved to be quick and fast in Seattle, where it qualified just shy of the top spot, and the same carbon fiber shell aced the ultimate test earlier in the year, when it won the Houston race with K&N Filters colors adorning it.
"It's a nice body, and the boys think it's a lucky car, so it has that going for it," Worsham concluded. "Ugly cars can win, and beautiful cars can lose, so it's our goal to put the two good things together and see if we can make a beautiful car look even prettier in the Winner's Circle. If we got points for style, this car would already have earned them, so we'll just have to focus on each lap and hope we can create a permanent record of the Techron car in the history books."
That, in and of itself, would be the "rally" Worsham needs to overtake the lead with the clock ticking down. He's 27 down with four to go.
