As Funny Car points leader Ron Capps aims to solidify a place in the top eight for the new Countdown to the Championship playoff beginning at the U.S. Nationals on Labor Day, his familiar Brut Dodge Charger will sport Valvoline colors at this weekend's O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.

This is the second of four venues this season at which a Don Schumacher Racing Funny Car will carry the Valvoline red, white and blue.

"At Valvoline we are psyched for Bristol!" said Rob Stravitz, vice president for global brands at Valvoline. "We have NHRA Funny Car points leader Ron Capps running the Valvoline red, white and blue paint scheme and we have all the DSR drivers running with Valvoline.

"We also have a stellar lineup of Sportsman racers in Valvoline colors, and we have thousands of Valvoline consumers watching the race in the stands and on ESPN2," added Stravitz. "If that were not enough, Valvoline is the Official Motor Oil at Bristol."

As Funny Car points leader Ron Capps aims to solidify a place in the top eight for the new Countdown to the Championship playoff beginning at the U.S. Nationals on Labor Day, his familiar Brut Dodge Charger will sport Valvoline colors at this weekend's O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn.

This is the second of four venues this season at which a Don Schumacher Racing Funny Car will carry the Valvoline red, white and blue.

"At Valvoline we are psyched for Bristol!" said Rob Stravitz, vice president for global brands at Valvoline. "We have NHRA Funny Car points leader Ron Capps running the Valvoline red, white and blue paint scheme and we have all the DSR drivers running with Valvoline.

"We also have a stellar lineup of Sportsman racers in Valvoline colors, and we have thousands of Valvoline consumers watching the race in the stands and on ESPN2," added Stravitz. "If that were not enough, Valvoline is the Official Motor Oil at Bristol."

Capps is ready to finally arrive at one of the tour's favorite circuits, Bristol Dragway, this weekend after the postponement from May because of track re-surfacing. This is also the third event of a grueling six-race back-to-back swing.

"A lot of drivers and crew guys had plans for this weekend off and when you turn a grueling three-race Western Swing into more than that, and going back and forth across the country, it makes it harder on team members, truck drivers, parts suppliers, and others," said Capps, defending event champion and the winningest driver at this track, with two victories (2006 and 2001). "And we still worry about a track that's had to lay down concrete again like that.

"When we first heard rumors about a postponement, I got a call from our p.r. person, who said that (track owner) Bruton Smith would never let a race like that be postponed, and that's what we all thought. We figured there was no way that that could happen. But, you look back on it now and they easily could have run the race and pled stupidity and everyone would have tried to do the best they could.

"But, Bruton, (track president) Jeff Byrd and all the Bristol Dragway people did the right thing. Yes, it's going to make our schedule tougher, but it shows us they care about making it a safe race track. Obviously there were problems that concerned safety and when you look back at what has happened this year, we just can't take things like that for granted. We were happy to return under improved conditions."

As for the Countdown to the Championship, Capps is 98 points ahead of Robert Hight and would like to remain there for the next six races before the new playoff system kicks in, if only to have a 10-point advantage going into the final six races. "We're like kids in a candy store getting to race all these races in a row," he said. "So, we've got to pace ourselves, keep our heads on straight, focus on staying in the Countdown, and staying in the POWERade points lead. There's nothing better than rolling into Indy and being the points leader.

"Bristol Dragway has been a great track for us in the past, and it's still going to be this weekend. We can't wait. And running the Brut Dodge with the iconic Valvoline colors makes it doubly exciting."