With four final round showings to their credit this season, the Kenny Bernstein team is looking to add a win on Sunday while Brandon is eyeing his 18th career Top Fuel trophy.

"We love coming to the wine country to race," said the second generation driver. "The Infineon Raceway facility is one of the premier venues on our circuit, media coverage is great, and we have some avid fans in Northern California. Fram and Autolite are also sponsors of our Budweiser/Lucas Oil team, so there's another incentive to bring home a trophy for the race title rights sponsor. We would love to win this for Dad, Budweiser, Lucas Oil, Mac Tools, and our hometown sponsor in the Sonoma area, Matt Cordeiro and his family, as well as all the sponsors who have supported us through the years.

"We have a tremendous amount of talent and experience on our team and it gives us confidence every time we pull to the starting line. We definitely are strong contenders and we're hungry for a win.

"The key to winning this race will be negotiating a hot track. Tune-ups will be on the edge and it will be a fine line between getting down the track and smoking the tires or going into tire shake. As drivers, we will need to be on our toes and ready to pedal off and on the throttle if we run into loss of traction. It's definitely a team effort and the driver has to do his part.

"It's challenging, but we're up for it!"

With Budweiser recently announcing that they will not return in 2010 after 30 years of primary sponsorship with the Kenny Bernstein team, new sponsorship is being actively pursued.

"We are passionate about the sport of NHRA drag racing and we will continue to field a team in 2010 with Brandon as the driver if we can secure sponsorship," said six-time champion Kenny Bernstein. "But let me stress that if we don't find funding for next year, we will not be back. Racing is our business. We do not have another business to fall back on to help absorb the expense of a race team.

"We owe a debt of gratitude to all the Budweiser employees and wholesalers we've worked with through the years, as well as the fans and friends who have followed and supported us beginning with the Funny Car era.

"We believe that taking a proactive role in initiating programs and promotions that help sell product and build brand awareness has been an integral part of retaining our sponsorship associations through the years. Coupled with the success we've had on the racetrack while flying the Budweiser colors, including six NHRA championships and 85 national event victories between Brandon and me, then it's a very attractive opportunity for another sponsor.

"We think we have been one of the marquee teams in this sport for the past three decades and we bring with us 30 years of fan base. NHRA drag racing is our home."

Nitro (Top Fuel and Funny Car) qualifying for the Fram Autolite Nationals begins Friday, July 24 at 4:45 p.m. with a second session at 7:15 p.m. There are two qualifying sessions Saturday, 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. with final eliminations scheduled to begin Sunday at 11 a.m.

Brandon will participate in a Track Talk fan question and answer session Saturday at 1:20 p.m. in Wine Country Winner's Circle.

Notable: Kenny Bernstein was named as one of seven who will be inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in its annual ceremony Wednesday, August 12 at the Fillmore Theater in Detroit. Each inductee receives the Hall of Fame's prestigious original bronze statuette "Horsepower" award.

Fram Autolite Nationals Television Advisory
Qualifying - July 25 - ESPN2 6 - 8 p.m. ET
NHRA Race Day - July 26 - ESPN2 11-11:30 a.m.
Eliminations - July 26 - ESPN2 9 p.m. - 12 a.m.

Budweiser Lager Lesson: Every day at 3 o'clock, Budweiser's expert brewmasters sample Budweiser from every stage of the brewing process to ensure quality and consistency across every batch of beer.

Courtesy of Susie Arnold