PEDREGON TOP TOYOTA IN CHICAGO NHRA QUALIFYING 

JOLIET, IL – Cruz Pedregon qualified fifth with a 3.969-second pass in his Snap-on Camry Funny Car to lead Toyota in qualifying for Sunday’s JEGS Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway in suburban Chicago.

Pedregon has now qualified in the top five in four of the last five events and in the top half of the field in six consecutive races. He will face a tough first-round match-up against 2017 Funny Car champion Robert Hight on Sunday.

“We’re happy to qualify in the top five again in our Snap-on Camry, but we’re going to have to be more consistent on race day to have a shot,” said Pedregon afterward.

Shawn Langdon qualified in the top three in both of Saturday’s sessions – earning bonus points for the first time since moving over to Funny Car after last season. Overall, the 2013 Top Fuel champion registered his best qualifying performance since Gainesville with a seventh. He will race Tommy Johnson Jr. in eliminations.

J.R. Todd struggled in Friday’s key final qualifying session which set most of the top half of the field, but bounced back to run his two best passes of the weekend on Saturday. Todd was the quickest Funny Car in Saturday’s first session, earning three bonus points. It marked the eighth time in nine races that he has earned bonus points for placing in the top three of a qualifying session. Todd races Bob Tasca in round one of eliminations.

In Top Fuel, Antron Brown saved his best run for last with a 3.781-second pass to jump into the top half of the field in qualifying seventh.  He will face Leah Pritchett in the first round on Sunday.

Doug Kalitta qualified eighth and will face Terry McMillen, while his Kalitta Motorsports teammate Richie Crampton placed 11th and will square off with Blake Alexander in Sunday’s eliminations.

Today’s final qualifying will be televised on FS1 at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, withtomorrow’s Mello Yello Drag Racing Series eliminations scheduled to be shown on FS1 beginning at 5:30 p.m. (all times ET).