Leading rookie Crampton speeds to provisional No. 1 in Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS – GEICO/Lucas Oil driver Richie Crampton hopes to finish the job in qualifying this time.
Crampton has been the provisional No. 1 qualifier twice this season, only to lose the top spot in the final two sessions each time.
He snared the provisional No. 1 for the NHRA Toyota Nationals on Friday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a stellar run of 3.764 seconds at 322.42 mph.
“It’s pretty exciting to leave here Friday night sitting on the top of the ladder,” Crampton said. “We’ve done that before and ended up getting bumped on Saturday, so we’ll see how tomorrow pans out.”
Crampton was also provisional No. 1 after the first day at Houston and St. Louis before falling out of the top spot. But he hopes to reverse that trend, as cooler weather is expected for the Las Vegas area on Saturday, when two final qualifying sessions are scheduled.
“I think we’re going to have some fantastic weather tomorrow to lend itself to some great ETs again,” Crampton said. “For now, I’m just real proud of my GEICO team, and to do so well for Toyota at a Toyota event like this is also a big bonus for us.”
Securing the No. 1 qualifier would be a boon to Crampton’s hopes for the rookie-of-the-year award. Crampton is the leading contender for the NHRA Road to the Future Award as the sport’s top rookie, as he leads all rookies with two victories – including the prestigious U.S. Nationals.
“I’ve definitely got my eyes set on that,” Crampton said. “I really hope I’m in contention for that and I’d really love to win that award. I know we need to do better and go some rounds to solidify our position. If we can get some round wins here and Pomona, I think we’ll be sitting pretty good, but it’s not over until it’s over.”
Crampton also hopes to use Saturday’s final qualifying runs to gain consistency for his GEICO team.
“We’ve struggled with consistency, so tomorrow we’ll just try to make good, solid runs,” Crampton said. “Obviously, we’re going to try and run well, but we need to get that consistency back that we’ve been lacking since the U.S. Nationals. I’m sure (crew chief) Aaron (Brooks) and the team will get everything figured out. What we did this evening has given us some great information for tomorrow, and if we can put together two high 3.70 runs tomorrow, we’d be ecstatic.”
Qualifying sessions are scheduled for 1 and 4 p.m. PT, Saturday. Eliminations will start at approximately noon, Sunday, with both qualifying and elimination action broadcast on ESPN2 on tape-delay basis.
