Rodger Brogdon’s quick first-round pass not enough to advance in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS – Rodger Brogdon rolled triple sixes in the first round of the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals on Sunday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but it was far from lucky.

Brogdon’s pass of 6.669 seconds at 207.53 mph wasn’t enough to beat Vincent Nobile, who was lightning quick off the starting line to get to the second round.

Nobile had a .018-second reaction time, getting a .050-second jump on Brogdon. Nobile’s pass of 6.677 seconds at 207.18 mph was enough to hold Brogdon off.

“I just didn’t do my job,” Brogdon said. “What can I say? Vincent’s usually pretty good on the line, but when you make the quicker run and don’t win, that stings. Nobody to blame but myself. Oh, well, we’ll get over it and get ready for Houston.”

The O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA SpringNationals on April 24-26 at Royal Purple Raceway in Houston is the next race on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule. That’s a home race for Brogdon, as his Rodger Brogdon Racing team is based in Houston and he lives in Tomball.

Brogdon does carry some positive momentum there because his first-round pass in Las Vegas was the fourth-quickest of the session. He was quick all weekend in Vegas, continuing his solid performance at the start of the 2015 season.

Brogdon won in Phoenix and raced to the semifinals in Pomona and Gainesville. He led the points standings after two of the four races and will still be in the top five heading to Houston.

“We’ve got a great car and great horsepower, for sure,” Brogdon said. “(Crew chief) Pete (Smallwood) and all the guys on the team have been doing a great job all year, and I hate I let them down here, but we win as a team and lose as a team. We’ll be fine.”