TOYOTA DRIVERS SWEEP TOP SPOTS IN CHARLOTTE; PEDREGON PUTS CAMRY ON POLE, LUCAS GRABS TOP SPOT IN TOP FUEL

Concord, NC – Cruz Pedregon ran the second-quickest pass in Funny Car history, while Morgan Lucas was the number one qualifier in Top Fuel as Toyota drivers swept the top spots in both Nitro classes in qualifying for Sunday’s NHRA Carlyle Tools Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, N.C.

Pedregon put down a blistering 3.980-second pass on Friday and needs a 4.02-second pass on Sunday to give him the official Funny Car E.T. record. Lucas’ 3.749-second run easily out-distanced the rest of the field. He then earned three more points after running the quickest pass of Saturday’s afternoon session.

“We were trying to run hard, but it’s hard to say that you’re going to go out there and run 3.98,” said Pedregon. “We knew turning the knobs the way we turned them, if it didn’t spin, it would be fast?- great work by the crew. Being #1 qualifier is great, but the guys know there is even more we can do! The Snap-on crew is hungry for another win. Thank you so much to Snap-on Tools, Toyota and the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series!”

Pedregon led a strong qualifying effort for the Camry Funny Cars as Alexis DeJoria placed fifth, Del Worsham, who led Friday’s first session, placed sixth, Chad Head was ninth and Tony Pedregon placed 15th, but did earn a point on Saturday as third quickest in the first session.

“We struggled at the beginning of the year and in Indy qualifying, so it’s nice to run like this,” said Lucas. “The team is on cloud 9. That was the first full pass on the car. It’s nice to have something that came out of our shop run like that.”

Al-Anabi Racing Toyota teammates Shawn Langdon and Khalid alBalooshi placed third and fourth – with Langdon, the series point leader, leading the first session of the weekend. Brandon Bernstein ran the second-quickest pass of the final session to jump up to eighth, while Antron Brown did not qualify.

ESPN’s qualifying coverage can be seen tonight on ESPN News at 11:30 p.m., with a replay on ESPN2 at 3:30 a.m. Sunday’s Mello Yello Drag Racing Series eliminations are scheduled to run on ESPN2 from 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. (all times EDT).