“I’m proud of the progress this team is making right now. We didn’t qualify as well as we wanted, but, with the Four-Wide, I don’t feel it is that important for eliminations. We were runner-up in the first quad (four cars) on a tie (time) and then, we outright won the next round and that makes us feel like we are gaining on it. I told the team that we are way ahead of where we were last week at Phoenix. And that was way ahead of the runs at Gainesville and Pomona. I feel like the team is doing a great job improving with each race, and we are in the window that we can make some small adjustments and pick speed. I think the crew is a little dejected with the final, but from the boss’ perspective, I can see us gaining on it. And we made great progress in just a week. I like seeing them pout a bit right now because of losing, but I’ll get them smiling again and ready for Charlotte. We will focus on the positive moving forward. On Friday and Saturday, I don’t have a theory on why I was a little late on the lights. But today (Sunday), we were back leaving on good lights and got a 50 (.050 of a second) in the final. I wanted to be consistent on the lights, and that is the best for me as a rookie driver in Top Fuel. I’m happy with that finals light because I did everything as I normally do in every run. I’m looking forward to Charlotte now.”
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