BRISTOL, TN – Auto Service Plus Funny Car driver Blake Alexander added another highlight to his strong 2013 season this weekend when he reached the semifinals at the Ford Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway. Despite struggling in qualifying, the 24-year old Virginian turned on two win lights before falling to eventual race winner John Force.

Alexander’s best qualifying run of the weekend, 4.35, came during the Friday night session, but it wasn’t enough to place him in the top twelve to carry over to Saturday. His final pass during Q4 placed him No. 15, setting up a first round match with the reigning NHRA Funny Car champion, Jack Beckman.

“We were trying a few different things in qualifying. Sometimes you need to go slower to go faster, and obviously we went slower before progressing. We knew we were already qualified going into the last session on Saturday, so we just went up there seeing what the track would take with our set-up,” said Alexander.

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BRISTOL, TN – After suffering a streak of first round losses since his runner-up at Charlotte earlier this year, Funny Car driver Blake Alexander is confident that his Auto Service powered by Auto-Plus Funny Car will be back in winning form at this weekend’s Ford Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway. The team is still sorting through their improved parts and pieces and attempting to bring synergy to the new combination.

“We were trying a new clutch package at Atlanta and Englishtown that we thought would work much better. As we made more runs and acquired more data, we realized that it wasn’t going to work the way we anticipated. We’ve made the necessary changes since then to find the consistent car that we left in Charlotte,” said Alexander, racing in just his second season in the NHRA Funny Car class.

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ENGLISHTOWN, NJ – After back-to-back first round exits at Houston and Atlanta, Funny Car driver Blake Alexander is ready to get back to turning on win lights at this weekend’s NHRA Toyota Summernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. Alexander, who drove the Auto Service Plus powered by Auto-Plus Funny Car to a runner-up finish at Charlotte earlier this spring, is also looking to break into the 4.0-second range this weekend.

“If the conditions allow it, we’d like to run in the 4.0s. Especially on the Friday night qualifying run where the top twelve times carry over into Saturday. The weather forecast is calling for high temps in the nineties during the day so that Friday night run will be crucial,” claimed Alexander, whose career-best E.T. is 4.116, set at this event last season.

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COMMERCE, GA – Young Funny Car driver Blake Alexander suffered another first round loss at the rain-delayed Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway this weekend. The driver of the Auto Service Plus powered by Auto-Plus Funny Car was unable to qualify in the Top 8, putting him in an unfavorable lane for Saturday’s first round of eliminations.

Rain storms during last weekend’s attempt at race completion prompted NHRA officials to bump back competition to this weekend, beginning with abbreviated two rounds of qualifying on Friday and eliminations on Saturday. Going from four qualifying sessions to two had a noticeable effect on Alexander’s Paul Smith-led team. Though the Auto Service Plus car was consistent, running 4.26 and 4.21, it was only quick enough to rank Blake No. 15, lining him up with Ron Capps first round.

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