That sound you heard in the distance at Denver was Ron Krisher sighing.

Krisher emerged from the outhouse and climbed his way into the penthouse by reaching his first final round of the season. This wasn't a matter of falling into the final round. The Valvoline-sponsored driver was the quickest in each round leading up to the finals.

The only thing keeping Krisher from making it a fourth consecutive was parts breakage.

That sound you heard in the distance at Denver was Ron Krisher sighing.

Krisher emerged from the outhouse and climbed his way into the penthouse by reaching his first final round of the season. This wasn't a matter of falling into the final round. The Valvoline-sponsored driver was the quickest in each round leading up to the finals.

The only thing keeping Krisher from making it a fourth consecutive was parts breakage.

"We broke the transmission - it dead-headed," Krisher said. "It doesn't come out of first gear and just stays in first, and then it goes to the moon. It's a shame. We had a good 60-foot (time), a good light, everything we needed to win that (final) round. It's been a long time waiting. It's been one tremendously bad year and we've struggled."

Krisher had 11 consecutive DNQs before qualifying 12th last week at Bristol.

 

When he was mired in the worst funk of career, Krisher was convinced there was only one team that could bring forth a clean slate -- Victor Cagnazzi. His intuitions were correct.

Krisher's turnaround coincided with his decision to enter into an engine-lease program with Victor Cagnazzi Racing starting with the Norwalk race two weeks ago.

"At Norwalk we got a little bit lost on what to do with the motor because we really didn't understand it," Krisher said. "We didn't have a handle on the tune-up on the motor, and we didn't have a handle on what to do. At Bristol we did a little better but had some problems with a shorted-out water pump in final qualifying. In this race it really started coming together and then somebody throws a roadblock out there. What are you going to do? I don't get upset and I don't get too excited. Everybody here did a good job today, and when something breaks, it breaks. That's just the way it is. Sure, I would've liked to have won that race, but Allen Johnson wanted to win that race too.

"It's that simple. We have good people, we got a lot of help today, and we've got a good race car. We'll still struggle a little bit at Seattle running back down at sea level trying to figure out what it is we're going to do, but we'll overcome it, I'll guarantee you we will."