After qualifying in the top half of the 16-car Funny Car field, in No. 8, Jack Beckman faced No. 9
Del Worsham in the opening round, winning easily when Worsham's car broke at the starting line.
Beckman's 4.673-second run at 275.56 mph in that match-up driving the Valvoline/Mail Terminal
Services Dodge Funny Car didn't earn him lane choice, however, for the second round against Cruz
Pedregon, and after a short delay for an oildown, Pedregon opted to switch lanes. Pedregon came out
the winner, recording a 4.155/306.53, while Beckman struck the tires late in the run, slowing to a
4.424/219.40.
With a new points system in place for the Countdown to 1 playoffs, which began this weekend for the
top 10 in points for the final six races of the season, Beckman dropped to sixth. Only four of the
top 10 made it out of the first round: Beckman, Ashley Force Hood, Robert Hight and Bob Tasca III.
After the quarterfinal, only two remained: Hight and Force Hood. The final round saw Hight and
Beckman's teammate Matt Hagan meet up, with Hight taking the win.
"That one stings," said Beckman, who began the Countdown in fifth place. "We had a great
opportunity with six of the top 10 going out the first round. We had a good chance to control our
own destiny. Cruz has run the best all weekend long and had lane choice going into that run and
this might have been one of those runs where lane choice meant something.
"We had a big oildown in front of us. I'll run on the Safety Safari's cleanup any day of the week.
But sometimes there's only so much you can do with the lane and Cruz decided to swap lanes with us
after that lane was oiled down and we made it pretty far down the track and it just ripped the
tires loose.
"We're not sure if it was the race track, but it's kind of looking like it might have been.
"We have four races in four weeks. We have definitely shown that we can get down the race track
quick now. We did it twice in a row here. We've got to take this to Dallas and keep feeding on it.
We have to keep running good on Friday night, consistent on Saturday, and just go out there and
wear them out on Sunday like we did last year. It's going to be great.
"Ashley and Hight are making a move in the points, but nobody is going to run away with this in the
next few races. So, we will need to be sharp the next three weekends in a row."
Next up is the NHRA Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex in Dallas, Sept. 25-27.
