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U.S. Army NHRA Racing Auto Club NHRA Finals at Pomona Final Qualifying Report 

Pomona, CA – The U.S. Army driver trio of Leah Pritchett, Antron Brown and Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher locked down the first, sixth and eighth positions on the elimination ladder, respectively, after the final two rounds of qualifying Saturday for this weekend’s season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, California.

Schumacher and his U.S. Army Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) opened the day with a strong run in the heat of the day of 3.762 seconds at 329.02 mph that improved upon his best Friday effort and moved him up to 10th in the provisional order. He finished strong, however, with his best run of the weekend of 3.722 seconds at 329.75 mph. He’ll meet No. 9 qualifier Scott Palmer in Sunday’s opening round of eliminations.

“We’ll go fast tomorrow, but the bottom line as it is every weekend is that we’ll need to go rounds on Sunday,” said Schumacher, who’s won a record-tying six Pomona event titles and owns a record 10 No. 1 qualifying efforts. “We need to win more rounds than anybody else. We’re chasing second place and we just need to go out and be fastest in the qualifying sessions tomorrow and then win rounds on Sunday. This track generally gets better as we go through the weekend, so we’ll be good tomorrow.”

Brown and his Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR opened the day with a third consecutive solid run, this one an effort of 3.735 seconds at 326.00 mph that was fourth-best for the session. He closed with yet another solid run of 3.706 seconds at 328.22. He’ll meet No. 11 qualifier Doug Kalitta in Sunday’s opening round of eliminations.

“We’ve just been working on it really hard,” said Brown, who scored back-to-back Top Fuel event titles here in 2009 and 2010 to go with his event title in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class in 2004. “Mark (Oswald, crew chief), Brad (Mason, crew chief) and all of these Matco/U.S. Army boys – man, they’re getting it right. I simply hit the gas and it takes off. So, next year, we’re coming, baby. This race, this weekend, we love being in Pomona and we just want to end on a good note.”

Pritchett and her Mopar/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR, fastest in both sessions Friday, hazed the tires early in her first run today and crossed the finish line in 4.535 seconds at 168.05 mph. She finished the day with her second head-turning run of the weekend, an effort of 3.631 seconds at 332.84 mph. She’ll meet No. 16 qualifier Bill Litton in Sunday’s opening round of eliminations.

“What you’re seeing is teamwork at work,” said Pritchett, who reached the final round against Steve Torrence two weekends ago, her fifth final-round appearance this season. “It is a testament to some new chassis work we’ve been able to do at the DSR shop and we’re excited to be able to capitalize on it. Going fast is super fun. In my opinion, I think we’re peaking just fine right now. If nothing else, we’ve got an early start on 2019. It’s all about what we’re doing on the track right now and what we’ll be able to do tomorrow. We wish we could’ve peaked earlier, but the momentum we found in Vegas has definitely been transferred over here to Southern California. We just want to keep it going.”

FS1’s qualifying wrap-up show is set for 11:30 a.m. Sunday. Elimination rounds are set for 2 p.m. Sunday with FS1’s live broadcast beginning at 4 p.m.

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