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ENNIS, Tex. -- Tom Hammonds posted his best qualifying effort of the season this weekend at the 24th annual O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals. Hammonds' 6.620 second run at 208.17 mph was good enough for the No. 4 starting spot for Sunday, and he'll race Allen Johnson in round one of eliminations. "I couldn't be more thrilled," Hammonds said. "We've had the 8th Marine Corps District with us this weekend and now we need to come out tomorrow and put the icing on the cake with a race win." During Saturday's morning session, Hammonds' Race for Achievement Chevrolet ran 6.661 seconds at 207.50 mph. In the final qualifying round Hammonds seemed to experience the same problems he encountered last night when he shut off at about the 330-foot mark. Hammonds still likes his chances on Sunday. "It launched and kind of drifted to the left and when the wheels are up in the air there's not much you can do about it," Hammonds said. "The disappointing thing is that I had to shut it off in the last qualifying session heading into tomorrow's eliminations. We could have used that information. The conditions this afternoon are going to be similar to what we'll see tomorrow. We'll look at some similar notes, probably go back off the opening run today and tune from that. "I'm confident that we'll be in good shape for tomorrow. We'll service the car tonight, come away with a game plan with the transmission and clutch and be ready to go." The Hammonds' pit area has been the host this weekend for more than 250 new recruits of the United States Marine Corps from the 8th Marine Corps District. "It's unbelievable to have all these new recruits with us here in Dallas," Hammonds said. "When they first came into the pits this morning they were marching to a cadence and it just sent chills down your spine. From the first Pro Stock car in the pits to the last, they knew we were here because they could hear us. We had a great time today. We'll have some more 'Polees' with us tomorrow and another great time."
WATCH VIDEO - Tom Hammonds during round three of qualifying at the NHRA Fall Nationals:
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm_riJfVmGE
The O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Tex., on Sept. 24 - 27, is the
second race on the six-event NHRA Countdown to 1 for the 2009 Full Throttle Championship.
Qualifying coverage can be seen on ESPN2 on Sunday, Sept. 27, beginning at 12:15 a.m. Eastern.
Final eliminations coverage gets underway on Sunday, Sept. 27, with NHRA Race Day starting at 11
a.m., and a repeat broadcast of qualifying gets underway at 11:30 a.m. A three-hour telecast of
final eliminations kicks off at 7 p.m. Eastern.
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