Brandon Bernstein, driver of the Budweiser/Lucas Oil dragster hopes that the team’s past accomplishments at the O’Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals will pay dividends at this year’s May 16-18 event.

“Bristol is a track where we’ve had pretty good success,” said the second generation driver.  “We won here in 2003 and 2007 and we were the No. 1 qualifier in 2003 and 2005.  The fact that we’ve performed well here in the past helps build confidence going into this year’s event.  We know we are capable of winning.

“One of my favorite memories, though, was in 2005 when my friend Eric Medlen and I were the No. 1 qualifiers.   It was raining and qualifying was done for the day and I remember Eric and I got on our golf cart to go to the press room for interviews.  We were pretty soaked, but we were like a couple of kids, we were so excited to be the No. 1 qualifiers.  That’s a good memory.”

Brandon Bernstein, driver of the Budweiser/Lucas Oil dragster hopes that the team’s past accomplishments at the O’Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals will pay dividends at this year’s May 16-18 event.

“Bristol is a track where we’ve had pretty good success,” said the second generation driver.  “We won here in 2003 and 2007 and we were the No. 1 qualifier in 2003 and 2005.  The fact that we’ve performed well here in the past helps build confidence going into this year’s event.  We know we are capable of winning.

“One of my favorite memories, though, was in 2005 when my friend Eric Medlen and I were the No. 1 qualifiers.   It was raining and qualifying was done for the day and I remember Eric and I got on our golf cart to go to the press room for interviews.  We were pretty soaked, but we were like a couple of kids, we were so excited to be the No. 1 qualifiers.  That’s a good memory.”

Though Bernstein finished runner-up in Gainesville in March, he has yet to score a victory this season.  Last season Bernstein’s Bristol win was his third and he had logged five victories before the prestigious Mac Tools U.S. Nationals.

“In this game right now as far as the countdown to the championship is concerned, you aim for success throughout the year while you want to peak at the end of the season,” said Bernstein.

“We’ve had a slower start this year but know we’ve got a good car.  We’ve just had some mechanical issues that knocked us out in previous races at the beginning of the season.  I think we’ll get those fixed and get some consistency in the race car.

“Bristol is a great race track and we have a lot of fans there. When my dad first got Budweiser onboard as a sponsor, Holston Distributing in Bristol was one of the original backers.

“We enjoy coming to Thunder Valley.”