Fri, 18 Sep 2009, 11:18 PM Tom Hammonds Qualified No. 8 at Carolinas Nationals

Courtesy of Jeff Romack

CONCORD, N.C. -- Tom Hammonds is hoping that he can run the remainder of his two-race return to the NHRA Full Throttle tour as well as he did today during qualifying at the 2nd annual Carolinas Nationals. The driver of the Race For Achievement Chevrolet finds himself qualified in the No. 8 spot with a 6.662 e.t. at 206.80 mph.

"It's been a really good day for us," Hammonds said. "Don't get me wrong, though, we're not completely satisfied, but this is our first race back in a long, long time and it gives me a lot of hope, especially going into the offseason with our program. We're going to make announcement about our program soon, and knowing where we are now, the top half, going into tomorrow's session, I'm excited about what we have in store for them."

Hammonds' qualifying run of record came after a solid performance in round one in which he returned to the Pro Stock pits in the No. 5 position.

"We know we can get better tomorrow," Hammonds said. "We're looking at the data, we'll make some changes for tomorrow morning, and I think it will be a better session, but I like our chances. We have everything to gain and nothing to lose and that's what we're going to do."

The No. 1 qualifier is Mike Edwards in the Young Life Pontiac. Edwards posted a 6.614 e.t. at 208.36 mph.

The 2nd annual NHRA Carolinas Nationals on Sept. 17 - 20 at zMax Dragway in Concord, N.C., is the first of six races in the NHRA Countdown to 1 for the 2009 Full Throttle Series championship. Qualifying coverage of the NHRA Carolinas Nationals can be seen on ESPN2 on Saturday, Sept. 19, beginning at 11:30 p.m. Eastern. Final eliminations coverage gets underway on Sunday, Sept. 20 with NHRA Race Day starting at 11 a.m., and then a three-hour telecast of final eliminations kicks off at 7 p.m. Eastern.