Including this weekend’s Virginia Nationals, three races remain in the National Hot Rod Association’s Countdown to One. Here’s a quick categorical look at the points races: 

Top Fuel: All Tony Schumacher, all the time. He’s 166 points up on teammate Cory McClenathan with 12 rounds of racing remaining. He has 13 wins this season, and TF rookie Antron Brown is next with two. Think Kyle Busch’s NASCAR regular season without the playoff flop. Barring mechanical problems, the only drama here is whether Schumacher will win VMP, one of three tracks he has yet to claim. (Shameless plug: see today’s print edition for more on Schumacher). 

Funny Car: Tim Wilkerson paces the field, but there is some firepower not too far behind him. Jack Beckman (in second place and 72 points behind), Robert Hight and Tony Pedregon are separated by a mere four points. 
Pro Stock: This is going to be a lot of fun to watch this weekend. Jeg Coughlin enters the fourth of six playoff races with a 32-point lead over Kurt Johnson (Greg Anderson finished the regular season atop the points). Three other drivers are within 69 points of Coughlin: Jason Line (-55), Anderson (-63) and Mike Edwards (-69). 
A word on earning points: A driver earns 10 points for attempting to qualify (the top 16 in each class are able to compete in Sunday’s eliminations). You also earn a small amount of points based on your seed (the best time of the four scheduled qualifying sessions over two days is used). On Sunday, first-round losers will take home 20 points, advancing to the quarterfinals gets you 40, a semifinal berth earns 60. The final-round loser will take home 80 points, and the winner gets 100.  

Here’s the quotes from the Tony Schumacher story that didn’t make today’s print edition: 

(See Ralph Paulk’s story in Friday’s editions on Schumacher’s crew chief Alan Johnson, who is leaving the team at season’s end to start his own team, but here’s what he told me about his team): “Show up, and AJ will try to make the car as fast as it can. The cards will fall where they may. There’s three races left with this team, and I just want to enjoy it. I’m pretty good at recognizing when I’m part of something great. I’m just going to give it everything, and at the end of the year we’ve left nothing on the table. You know, we’ve won so much stuff, people actually boo us….it’s awesome. Obviously, you don’t want to get booed, but it’s crazy.”

(On mentoring Antron Brown, who raced Pro Stock Motorcycles and this year switched to Top Fuel): “When he switched over, I just sat him down…here’s what to expect. I told him ‘Everyone’s going to give you advice. Look at the guys that drive the way you want to drive and ask them.’ He’s a good person. Anything I could do to help that boy….a lot of people have given him ‘try this, try that’ but they haven’t tried those cars before. Gotta keep my friend safe.”

(On his consistency this season): “I wish I could bottle up that answer to that question and sell it. They have to give me a consistent car that’s perfect. So much has to work perfectly.” 

And finally…...we will have all sorts of coverage live from the track. The honorable Tim Pearrell will be in Dinwiddie on Friday, and I’ll take over for the rest of the weekend. We’ll have coverage every day in the print edition, of course, and I plan on blogging from the track as well. Looks like a clear weekend in terms of weather, so if you’re not taking in the Folk Festival, maybe I’ll see you down I-85.

Posted by Shawn Fenner in • Auto Racing
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