Robert Hight was a little more nervous than usual for a person who had qualified No. 1 for the third consecutive race. And the source of his anxiety is having to race the slowest of the 16 qualifiers in Sunday’s eliminations at the NHRA Midsouth Nationals in Memphis, Tenn. Hight meets the Justin Schriefer in the first round of eliminations. Schriefer is driving a Funny Car owned by Dale Creasy.

“There won’t be any easy rounds out there,” Hight said, as he mentioned the number of Countdown participants meeting in the first round. “Tomorrow provides great conditions for Jimmy Prock and that can be both good and bad.

“Bad, because if you try to back it off to race the guy we meet in the first round you can shake the tires, smoke the tires and lose. When it’s cold, you have to be aggressive to make it go. That’s a gamble. One thing about being No. 1 qualifier is that you can set back and pick your spot.”

Being at the back of the pack, either in qualifying or eliminations, gives the team more time to prepare and it also builds confidence.

“I like to walk the track,” Hight said. “Mike Dunn taught me when I started driving, that if you can always walk the track, and develop a game plan of where you need to be at a given increment, that will help you.

“When we were messed up early in the season, I didn’t have that opportunity because we had to run early. It helps you to get in your head what is going on.”

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