Brogdon has good read on Reading after steady qualifying effort at Maple Grove

READING, PA – Pro Stock driver Rodger Brogdon started his weekend with a touch of food poisoning but that did little to slow down the driver of the Owens Corning Chevrolet Camaro, who was quick to get the bad taste out of his mouth and ultimately qualify with a strong pass of 6.540 seconds at 211.53 mph.

The swift run placed the native Texan 11th in a very quick Pro Stock field and sets up a first-round date with part-time racer Richie Stevens, who posted a best of 6.506 at 212.26 mph. The two men have not raced each other this year but they both use Elite Performance horsepower, leveling the playing field quite a bit.

“Friday was just about a blur for me,” Brogdon said. “Aside from the brief time I was in the car, I was pretty down. Just feeling terrible. Thankfully, everything seems to have run through my system and I got a good night’s sleep and was ready for today. The boys continued to work hard and as the track got better, we improved.

“You always want more in this sport. If you’re not qualified, you want to get in the field. If you’re in the field, you want to be qualified as high as possible. You want to be No. 1. You want to win. If you win, like we did last year in Bristol, you want to win again. That’s why it’s so much fun because the challenges never end.”

Overnight rain cooled off Maple Grove Raceway quite a bit, which resulted in better times and speeds across the board Saturday. Weather forecasts call for it to be even cooler this evening, this time with no rain, which has Brogdon and the rest of the Pro Stock racers primed for race day.

“Erica (Enders, top qualifier) almost set a national record tonight so the track is in prime shape,” said Brogdon, a past national event champion in both Pro Stock and Competition Eliminator. “She only missed the record by a few thousandths of a second and that’s exciting for us because we run the same motor as she does.

“We just need to keep fine-tuning our Owens Corning Chevy to that Elite horsepower. You really have to peck away at it because if you try to make a big move from one round to the next you can really find yourself in a mess. We’re not where we want to be just yet but we’re very close.

“Of course we’ve got Richie in Round 1 and he’s got the same power so it’ll be a real dogfight. It just might come down to who is sharper on the Christmas Tree so I’m glad to be back to 100 percent. We’ll be ready to race, for sure.”

Weather permitting, Pro Stock eliminations begin at noon at Maple Grove Raceway and will be shown in a slight tape delay on ESPN2.