Tony Pedregon in the Q Horsepower Chevy Impala SS and his crew made an impressive recovery from a major fire on Saturday night's final qualifying run, the result being Pedregon advancing to his second final round of the season.  Ironically, the defending POWERade champion defeated Densham at Gainesville.  Today Pedregon, who qualified tenth, defeated Jerry Toliver in Round 1, No. 2 qualifier Mark Oswald in round 2, and Ashley Force in the semifinals to face Scott Kalitta in the DHL Toyota in the money round.  In the finals Pedregon had a winning elapsed time of 4.818 seconds at 319.75 mph to Kalitta's 4.957 e.t. at 308.92 mph for his second win of the season and 38th of his career.    

Tony Pedregon in the Q Horsepower Chevy Impala SS and his crew made an impressive recovery from a major fire on Saturday night's final qualifying run, the result being Pedregon advancing to his second final round of the season.  Ironically, the defending POWERade champion defeated Densham at Gainesville.  Today Pedregon, who qualified tenth, defeated Jerry Toliver in Round 1, No. 2 qualifier Mark Oswald in round 2, and Ashley Force in the semifinals to face Scott Kalitta in the DHL Toyota in the money round.  In the finals Pedregon had a winning elapsed time of 4.818 seconds at 319.75 mph to Kalitta's 4.957 e.t. at 308.92 mph for his second win of the season and 38th of his career.     

"What a day," Pedregon said.  "I really want to thank the track.  We wish all the track's out here were like Route 66 in Chicago.  You good people out here have the finest track in the country.  I was on fire a little more than 24 hours ago and I've got a bunch of guys that just busted their rears.  They stayed up until 3:00 in the morning getting the car ready.  They were dog-tired until we won that first round and then I saw that adrenaline getting stronger and stronger in them. 

"That little incident last night took me back to the beginning of the year at Pomona (and a similar incident).  It started out to just be a run where everything was going good and we jumped on it to try and get low e.t.  It just pushed a head gasket out.  There was a little flash fire and I thought it would go out.  At Pomona I knew I had my hands full right away, but this just started kind of routine and then gradually got worse. 

"We looked at the data and were real encouraged.  As bad as a feeling and as expensive as it is it is to wipe a body out, but I looked at the numbers and the car was running good.  I just felt good.  We had a new chassis and there's always a little question mark if it's going to drive like the other one.  It was brand new and had zero runs on it, but fortunately my guys had it ready.  After that first run I had that confidence that I probably haven't had in awhile.  When the car responds, I think that gives the driver confidence.  This is just a good shot in the arm for us and gets us back in the game."