After thousands of miles and months of competition, the NHRA Full Throttle season will come to a close with the running of the World Finals this weekend in southern California. For Rodger Brogdon and the EDGE Pain and Performance Chips team they look forward to closing out the season with their second Top-10 finish in just three years of Pro Stock competition.

Brogdon and company will close out the season better than last year, but for Rodger the season has yet to fulfill all of the pre-season expectations and Pomona offers the last opportunity to achieve the loftiest goal, a national event win.

With numerous semi-final showings, their first national event final round and a six month reign as the national record holder, the 2011 season has certainly provided numerous highlights, but ask any competitor and they’ll tell you that without holding the trophy at the end of the race, the season just can’t be considered complete.

“No matter how you look at it we’ve had a good season,” commented Brogdon. “Not a great season, but certainly a good season. Sure, we were looking to take home our first win, and dang near did it at Houston. Nailing down the national record at Gainesville was pretty dang special too, but it’s been the little hiccups throughout the season that caused the most aggravation. Had we been able to avoid those hiccups there’s no telling how the season would have ended. But, that’s also called racing, nothing ever goes exactly as it should.”

“We were able to get Steve Kent on track at the Houston race with the team’s second car, and wow, has he come on strong. Talk about someone that’s having a great time behind the wheel, the smile on his face is sometimes as big as Texas. We’ll have both cars at Pomona this weekend, and we’re still looking to put both of them into the finals. I can’t think of a better way to close out the season than to have to face off against Steve in the finals.”

With plans already in motion for the teams 2012 season, the so-called off season is already shaping up to be as busy as the last nine months, but first comes the season finals at Pomona, and a final opportunity to complete the team’s best season yet.

Any astute business man knows that you have to pay attention to the numbers throughout the year, because at the end its how those numbers stack up that tell you what kind of year you’ve had.

Rodger Brogdon is one of those businessmen and knows that the numbers in this year’s Pro Stock championship battle are telling him that for the players in the top-10, it’s a long way from being over.

Since NHRA’s Countdown started in Charlotte, Brogdon and the EDGE Pain & Performance Chips team has accumulated 210 points in the championship chase, 5th best since the countdown began. With those points Rodger has passed Greg Stanfield in the standings and sits but one point behind Alan Johnson to claim another notch. Going into the race in Las Vegas, Brogdon is less than 3 rounds from 5th place in the points, and with the momentum the team has had of late, another strong showing in Sin City certainly isn’t out of the question.

The momentum that the team will carry into Vegas comes from Steve Kent’s semi-final appearances at Charlotte & Dallas and Rodgers semi-finals at Reading and Phoenix, albeit the Phoenix race didn’t happen without some hectic activity in the pits throughout the weekend.

“We didn’t do well in Fridays qualifying sessions,” Rodger began, “and ended up swapping engines Friday night. In the Saturday morning session, we were off just a touch on the setup with the new engine and missed our best qualifying shot, but Timmy (Freeman) and the guys were able to build on that run and actually improve in the hot, second session with our best run of the weekend.”

“Timmy and the rest of the guys really worked their tails off in the heat at Phoenix and we were looking forward to another final round opportunity until we had problems just past half-track against AJ in the semis, the car just didn’t run the back half like it had been. The guys at Cagnazzi’s engine shop have given us some quality pieces to race with all year long, so it was surprising to everyone we had the problems we had at Phoenix, but with the time off before Vegas and Pomona we’re all looking to Stevie Johns and the rest of the crew at Victors place to get us tuned up for the final two events.”

“Other than Jason, this year is going to be a battle for everyone in the top 10. Since Charlotte and the start of the countdown the Cagnazzi powered cars have been running neck and neck with the Summit team in the number of rounds won during eliminations.  With the equipment and performance we’ve had of late, we have as good a shot as anyone out there for a top 5 finish and we’re going to give it our all at Vegas & Pomona. I still say that we can win one of these races before years end, we’ve just got to put together four solid runs on race day. With 8 rounds of eliminations and a couple of hundred points left in the season, it's time for us to really crunch the numbers and close out 2011 with the best numbers we can.”

Steve Kent is a serious drag racer and for him, the part he's most serious about is in having fun. The freshman drag racer discusses his recent semi-final finishes in Charlotte and Dallas.

With but three races left in the NHRA Full Throttle Countdown, Rodger Brogdon and Steve Kent are looking at this week’s race in Phoenix as an opportunity to take on the rest of the Pro Stock teams and start to wrap up the 2011 race season on a strong note.

For Brogdon and Kent, the event in Phoenix will present the opportunity to continue a stretch run that has seen one of the drivers advance to the final four in eliminations at the last three events. In Charlotte and Dallas, Steve Kent drove the Charter Communications Pontiac to the semi-finals and in Reading, PA Brogdon drove the EDGE Pain & Performance Chips car to the semi-finals to keep the ball rolling.

Firebird Raceway in Phoenix is going to present an interesting challenge to all of the contenders on the NHRA tour though. Normally NHRA’s annual stop in Arizona comes early in the season, when conditions are relatively cool and conducive to making power. This year however, the event is being contested as part of NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship and will be ran in conditions that the teams haven’t seen since mid-summer, as temperatures are forecast to be at or near 100 degrees all weekend long.

“It’s been 20 months since we were last in Phoenix,” offered Brogdon when asked about this week’s race in the Valley of the Sun. “Last time we were her the track was giving everyone fits, to the point that NHRA had to postpone the race and finish it in Gainesville (FL) a couple of weeks later. It was certainly a tough weekend for everyone involved and I know we’re looking forward to seeing what Charlie Allen and his crew have done to the track. With a new racing surface and the heat that the weathermen say we’re going to be racing in, I can tell you that we probably won’t be looking at last year’s notes for tune up ideas. This weekend is going to be a whole new ball game!”

“Steve will be back behind the wheel of the Charter communications car, and that will double our ability to get a reading on what the track wants to give us. Beyond that, Timmy (Freeman), the “Doctor” (FJ Acosta), Pete (Smallwood) and the rest of the guys will be pouring over our data base looking for every last opportunity to maximize our performance. Jason (Line) has just about got the championship locked up, but as I’ve said before, if we finish in the top five this year, I’ll consider it a hell of a year.”

Rodger added one last thought, “We’ve got the power and our guys can set up and tune the car. We’ve won before at Firebird (in the Comp car) and there’s no reason why we can’t win there again.”

Look for the EDGE Pain & Performance Chips Pontiac as well as the Charter Communications Pontiac during coverage on ESPN2 and ESPN2HD this weekend; check your local listings for times in your area.

It’s one race down and five to go in NHRA’s Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship. For Rodger Brogdon and the EDGE Pain & Performance Chips team, it was a race that should have had a much different outcome.

A first round match up against former champion Mike Edwards was slated to be a good race, but one that the team felt they had a handle on and were looking to run a 6.56 or 6.57 to get the day started. After watching Steve Kent in the teams Charter Communications car put down a 6.569 in the pair just before them, everyone was looking forward to the run against Mike. Unfortunately the car rattled the tires at the top of second gear and everyone watched Edwards 6.585 get the win light in the other lane.

“We were all surprised when that happened,” lamented Rodger as he looked back on that tire shake. “We tried something in Saturdays early qualifying session that didn’t work, adjusted for it and came out in the final session and laid down a nice 6.57. We felt pretty comfortable with our setup for round one, but obviously we were just a little too far over center and it cost us. With Steve’s round win we already knew that we would be facing our team car in the 2nd round, which should have then put us in the semis. So, what should have been a good weekend ended with some tire shake that had my back still aching on Monday.”

“Fortunately we were also trying some things out on Steve’s car this weekend and boy, did they ever work! How about Steve, got his first Pro Stock round win and then just kept on going all the way to the semi-finals. He was driving great and having a hell of a good time doing it and really got old Jason Line’s attention in the semis. Anyway, the changes we made to Steve’s car worked well, so we’ve implemented the same changes in the EDGE Pain & Performance Chips Pontiac. We tested the changes on Monday in Charlotte and then the guys loaded everything up and headed for Dallas.”

“With the changes we’ve made and the forecast for sunshine and mid 80’s for this week’s race at the Texas Motorplex everyone on the team is anxious to get there and get after it again. We let one get away from us in Charlotte, now we’re looking to take it back in Dallas. We have some good race weekends at the ‘TexPlex’ in the past and this weekend has all the makings of being another one.”

“The annual DRAW auction will take place Saturday night in the Champions Club at the Motorplex and it’s always a fun evening that raises money for a very good cause that both Steve and I support. We’ll be there, and hope to see you there too.”

When NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship begins this weekend at zMAX Dragway in North Carolina, Rodger Brogdon and the EDGE Pain and Performance Chips team will be right in the midst of the battle and are ready for the six race chase to the championship to begin.

With NHRA’s format the top 10 drivers from the first portion of the season have now had their points reset and from 1 to 10 the point spread is a mere 110 points. For the final six events of the year it becomes anyone’s championship to win.  For Brogdon and the Edge team, their mid-season issues have been put behind them and momentum has started to build at just the right time.

With semi-final round appearances at two of the last three events, and fresh horsepower form Cagnazzi’s engine shop Tim Freeman and the crew are looking forward to showing what the team is capable of when the pressure is on.

“We’ve certainly had some ups and downs this year,” commented Brogdon, “but being on an upswing going into the countdown certainly can’t hurt. With the way the Summit team has been running of late, they’re certainly the team everyone is going to be chasing, but we’ll be starting the final six races just 80 points out of first place. Another runner-up like Houston or even a win and we’ll really be in the hunt. Obviously everyone else is thinking the same thing, but with our recent return to early season form we certainly feel like we’re ready to do just that.”

“Charlotte is the start of three races in three weeks, just like the western swing. The challenges that come with a three race swing are certainly daunting, but the way we’ve been running of late we’re all looking forward to a strong run through this swing and are looking forward to giving everyone a run for the championship.”

Six races, just 24 rounds of competition, and ten drivers trying to win those 24 rounds before seasons end so they can walk on stage in mid-November to accept the championship trophy. Starting in Charlotte this weekend, it’s anybody’s race to win, and Rodger Brogdon, Steve Kent and everyone on the team knows that now is the time to start putting it all together!

Indy is a town wrapped in motorsports tradition, from the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400 at the Speedway to the NHRA Mac Tools US Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway, the area abounds with racing lore and history.

Adding to that history is the objective of Rodger Brogdon, Steve Kent and the EDGE Pain and Performance chips Pro Stock team as they ready for this year’s running of NHRA’s most prestigious race of the season. The team has all eyes focused on bringing home their first NHRA national event trophy, and doing it at Indy would be the perfect stepping stone into NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship season ending run.

After suffering though a mid-season stretch that saw them fight a parts reliability problem, the team has returned to their early season form that carried them to the national record in Gainesville and their first final round in Houston. With Indy being the final race before NHRA’s Countdown begins, the EDGE Pain & Performance Chips team finds themselves catching fire at just the right time.

“There’s no question we had some issues mid-season,” stated Brogdon, “but everything now looks to be performing the way we expect, and when you’re not being surprised on every other lap it helps you build consistency. We put the EDGE Pontiac into the semi-finals at Seattle and were on our way to the finals in Brainerd when we got a little too aggressive and rattled the tires against Erica in the semi-finals there.”

Rodger added, “There are four races that have gotten away from us this year, Gainesville, Houston, Topeka and Brainerd. With the momentum we’ve got going right now, we’re hoping the come Monday evening we can put all those ‘shoulda-beens’ behind us and enjoy an Indy win. Steve Kent will be back with us at Indy in our second car, so we’ll be back to gathering twice as much data from every lap, and that certainly can’t hurt.”

“Indy always brings out a large collection of Pro Stock cars, and this year doesn’t seem to be any different. Last I looked there were going to be 30 cars trying to qualify for a 16 car field, and that alone forces you to put forth your best effort on every lap. The weather this year looks to be interesting too, with Friday and Saturday qualifying in the 90’s and then the temps start falling off to the mid 70’s for a high on race day. Between the weather and the number of cars trying to make the show, we’re going to have to be on our game all weekend long. But I certainly think everyone on the team is ready for the challenge, heck it’s INDY, you can’t help but be ready for it!”

Indy, The Big Go, The US Nationals, or whatever name you call it, the event in Indy every year gives everyone on the NHRA tour cause to put forward their best effort. For Rodger Brogdon, Steve Kent and the entire EDGE Pain & performance Chips team that effort has already begun.

After locking down their spot in NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship at Seattle, Rodger Brogdon and the EDGE Pain and Performance Chips team are looking to this week’s event in Brainerd MN and the following event in Indianapolis to position themselves for a very good run at the 2011 Full Throttle Championship.

“Right now it’s looking like we’re beginning to get our racecar back to early season form,” said Brogdon. “We’ve certainly had our struggles over the last 5-6 races, but after the changes we made going into Seattle, Timmy (Freeman) and the rest of the crew are pretty amped up about getting to Brainerd this weekend. I guess if you have to have a stretch run where things aren’t exactly going your way, it’s best to do it before the run for the championship.”

“The race in Brainerd was a challenge for us last year, we knew going into the event that we had to get a round or two in the win column to make it into the Countdown. We struggled in qualifying but were able to turn it around for race day and lock down our first ever Top-10 finish. This year we know going into the event that we’re in the hunt again, so now we can concentrate on putting ALL of our Cagnazzi power to work. We’ve been able to get some testing in and right now, I would say that everyone is locked and loaded for the weekend.”

“The way we were running going into the western swing put a lot of pressure on everyone on the team, but I can’t say enough about the way everyone worked together to get it all sorted out by Seattle. Now, with some days to rest, the pressure has backed off and everybody is ready to have some fun this weekend and then put the EDGE Pontiac to work on race day.”

With a semi-final showing in Seattle, Rodger Brogdon and the EDGE team were able to move up into 7th place in the point’s standings, but as tightly bunched as the field is between 4th & 8th, another weekend like their last event in Seattle and the EDGE team could roll out of Brainerd in 4th place in the standings. And right now, every last man on the EDGE Pain & Performance Chips team is looking to do just that.

NHRA’s three race in three weeks challenge known as the “ western swing”  puts every team on the Full Throttle tour to test as everyone is looking to clinch a berth in the associations Countdown.  And this year The EDGE pain & Performance Chips team of Rodger Brogdon and Steve Kent was no exception.

Battling a driveline issue that had haunted them for the 3 events leading up to the Mile-High Nationals, Brogdon and company tested prior to the swings first stop at Denver’s Bandimere Speedway and although testing gave them indications of a problem surmounted, race weekend proved to be a rerun of the tours most recent events as the crew continued to battle an unresponsive racecar. On race day it was “one and done” for the EDGE team, their first early exit on race day since the first of April.

Looking forward to the sea level conditions of Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA, the team headed west for stop number two on the western swing and began the race weekend with a thorough scrutinizing of every last component on the car. A couple of minor problems were discovered, but the team was able to definitely put a finger on the issue that had been their Achilles heel for the past few events and began to take the steps needed to return the EDGE Pontiac to its early season form. While the race weekend didn’t provide quite enough time for a complete reversal of fortune, progress was made and the team advanced to the second round before being excused on race day.

For the race at Pacific Raceways just outside Seattle, WA, the team’s first stop was the package delivery area at the track to pick up the freshly delivered and much needed replacement parts that were ordered at Sonoma. Thursday was a day of rebuilding components in anticipation of a return to performance levels the team hadn’t seen in a while, and Fridays opening qualifying session showed the payoff of the team’s hard work as Rodger drove the EDGE Pain & Performance Chips Pontiac to the early #1 qualifying position.

As qualifying continued through the final 3 sessions, the crew began the task of dialing in the new parts and although they eventually dropped to sixth in final qualifying, everyone was happy to have a combination back in the car that would respond to the changes that the guys were making.  “Being able to get that solid first run on Friday gave us the opportunity work with our new combination and see how far we could go in different directions with it,” commented crew chief Tim Freeman.

On race day, the EDGE Pain & Performance Chips team were anxious to tackle the rest of the Pro Stock field, as they once again felt comfortable going into eliminations. First round saw Brogdon dispatch Greg Stanfield with a 6.583, second round saw the EDGE Pontiac repeat with the early season consistency that had recently been lacking as Rodger was able to dispose of former world champ Mike Edwards with another, solid 6.589 lap. Going into the 3rd or semi-final round for the first time since Topeka, the crew made some changes to adjust for the warmer weather that the afternoon had brought on, and the car responded with yet another 6.586 lap, but this time it wasn’t quite enough as eventual race winner Jason Line was able to get by for the win.

“Nobody wants to go through the challenges we’ve been through, but every team does at some point in time,” stated Brogdon. “For the first time since Bristol we all are feeling pretty confident that we’ve got our racecar back. With our performance at Seattle we were able to clinch a berth for the Countdown, so now at Brainerd and Indy we can really focus on our race day tune up, and do it with two cars. Steve Kent will be back with the Pistonator car soon and with both cars back on track we’ll be able to double up on what we can learn as we get ready for our run at the championship. I’ve got to tell you, I was beginning to think Greg Anderson was going to win this year’s championship just by beating up on us. After Seattle though, I’m thinking he and everyone else just might have their hands full. We’re going to give them all as solid a run for the championship as we can!”

With the EDGE team going 1 round in Denver, 2 rounds in Sonoma and 3 rounds in Seattle, is a final round awaiting them in Brainerd, MN in two weeks? With time to freshen up engines and get some testing in prior to the event, it certainly wouldn’t be a major surprise.