"We went out on the first round today and ran that 6.13 at 238, and it was a nice, clean run, exactly what we were expecting. That was from the right lane, which seems to be the preferred lane so far this weekend. On the last run, from the left lane, we tried to step it up a little bit, but it just didn't make it," Troxel explained.

"It seems like we have a small issue with this car from when we leave the starting line and getting through the 1-2 shift, and if we can get it through there, the car will go down the track just fine. We're still testing things though.

"The fact that we knew we would qualify for the field allowed us to use the four qualifying sessions as a big test session, and we can go back to the setup where we went down the track today and we have something that's really competitive.

Troxel's teammate, Raymond Commisso, had his weekend cut short when his car blew a tire which caused him to crash during qualifying Friday evening. Commisso exited the car on his own strength, but was taken to a local hospital to be sure there were no complications. He was released early Saturday morning with just a few sore ribs and overall aches.

Troxel commented, "We were all really concerned about Raymond, but when he got out of the car and was walking around, we were relived. He's going to be sore for a while, but he'll be just fine, and that's what's most important.

"As far as my mental state and how that affects me, most drivers are good at blocking things out, and I really can't spend a lot of time thinking about it. Any time you're going over 200 mph, things can happen. These cars, more than any other car that I've driven are unruly - you never know what they are going to do - they do the unexpected a lot, so, I'm always respectful of them.

"You've got to take into consideration the kind of racetrack you're racing on and not push the boundaries of what you need to do. On race day, you do whatever it takes to get to the finish line, but during qualifying, I'm definitely aware of the limitations of me, the car and the racetrack, but I just don't concentrate on all of that too much.

"I'm far from having a ton of experience, but Al has been great working with me. Every lap I take I have more confidence, and I feel I can tell him what is going on in the car, and that helps us work together," she said.

Troxel will face Chris Russo in the first round of eliminations Sunday morning. Russo qualified sixth with a 6.159 at 235.06 mph.

"If the numbers hold true, it should be a good close race tomorrow. Lane choice looks like it might be important tomorrow, so it's a good thing we qualified in the top half, but you can't always rely on that either.

"We'll just go up to the line with our 'A' game tomorrow and hope that we can continue to make improvements. That's the goal - of course winning would be fine with me, too," Troxel said with a smile.

Courtesy of Matthew Brammer