Sun, May 31, 07:16 AM News From the Pennzoil Pits

Courtesy of Bob Brown Fram Route 66 Nationals

JOLIET, Ill. - The anticipation of a championship on Sunday has reached a season high for Team Pennzoil as all three drivers in attendance at the Inaugural Fram Nationals at Route 66 Raceway finished Saturday's final qualifying sessions near the top of their respective brackets.

Here's the latest news and comments from Pennzoil's pit row.

Eddie Hill, the pilot of the Pennzoil Top Fuel Dragster, showed that he's ready for Sunday's elimination rounds when he ran two more sub 4.7-second passes on Saturday to extend his current streak to five straight runs (including the last race in Englishtown, N.J.). Hill posted runs of 4.629, 4.658, 4.689 and 4.692 seconds at this event to finish as the most consistent driver in the field. "It sure feels good to be the quickest qualifier of everybody out here," Hill said. "Especially when you consider that all of these runs are coming off the same engine."

As the No. 3 qualifier, Hill will face Bruce Sarver (whose best time was a 4.739) in Sunday's opening round of eliminations. The two men have faced each other three times this year with Sarver holding a 2-1 advantage. "Well, I guess that means it's our turn," Hill said. "In actuality, if we do our part right, it won't matter who were running against. We've got the car, now we just need four more solid runs and a little luck."

Bruce Allen, the driver of the Outlaw Fuel Additives Pro Stock Pontiac, knew that it would be hard to improve on the 6.993-second pass he ran during Friday's cool evening session and decided to use his two Saturday runs looking for some extra horsepower. "After checking the forecast, I knew it was going to be too hot to run any faster than we did on Friday," Allen said. "So we tried a few different set-ups today to see what would happen. It's always good to get some seat time, especially at a new track. We gained a lot of valuable data today."

Allen finished qualifying in the No. 2 position and will have the advantage of lane choice in his first round elimination race against Steve Schmidt on Sunday. Schmidt's best time at this event is 7.037 seconds. The two men have split their previous two meetings this year. "Lane choice could prove to be a factor and so could any big change in the weather," Allen said. "We'll be ready for whatever happens. I'm looking forward to a very productive Sunday."

Mike Thomas, the driver of the Pennzoil Pro Stock Pontiac, recorded the fastest times in each of Saturday's Pro Stock qualifying sessions but still couldn't lower the 7.004-second pass he posted on Friday night. Thomas finished the qualifying rounds in the No. 3 spot and will have a chance to redeem himself against Greg Anderson in Sunday's first round of eliminations. The two men squared off in the first round of the last NHRA national event in Englishtown, N.J., with Anderson taking a hole-shot win. Anderson's best run at this event took 7.031 seconds.

"If this car continues to run the way it did today, we'll beat anybody out here," Thomas said. "Obviously everything is running well and we have a great opportunity to put the Pennzoil Pontiac in the winners circle."