Capps, NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge posts best run in last session, faces rookie DeJoria again in first round

July 21

MORRISON, Colo. (July 21, 2012) – Ron Capps and the NAPA AUTO PARTS Funny Car team had two solid days of racing in high altitude and qualified No. 3 for Sunday’s championship eliminations in the Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway in the Rocky Mountains outside of Denver.

Capps, who is second in NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series points, will face rookie Alexis DeJoria in Sunday’s opening round that begins at 1 p.m. (ET).

The match-up will be a repeat of the first round two events back at Joliet, Ill., but Capps hopes for a different result this time. When they met up near Chicago, DeJoria posted the upset but at the previous race Capps beat her to win the title at Bristol, Tenn., for his second win of the season.

“It’s just unfortunate we’ve got to run Alexis again,” said the veteran Don Schumacher Racing driver. “That team has been running very good and that showed when she made it to the final round at Bristol.

Saturday’s sunny, hot conditions are forecast for Sunday and Capps is enthused that his NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge was the quickest in the field in the last session to earn three bonus points.

“Everyone says it every year so it’s cliché now to say it but it’s tough conditions at Denver especially today with the heat,” he said the thin air that chokes horsepower in the high altitude. “(Crew chief) Rahn Tobler, did a heck of a job in the last session when we were the quickest car.

“We pushed the envelope a little too much on the third qualifying run and it broke the tires loose. What makes him a great crew chief and a great leader is that we gathered up and went back down there and ran the quickest in the final session.

“Thank God we’ve got a great Dodge Charger R/T body on it with great down force. Having the quickest run in the last session will make us sleep a little bit better.”

Ron Capps, NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T
Qualified: No. 3
First round opponent: Alexis DeJoria

FRIDAY QUALIFYING
Session 1: 4.670 sec., 188.31 mph
Session 2: 4.212, 297.94
SATURDAY QUALIFYING
Session 3: 6.347, 103.53
Session 4: 4.285, 284.81

DENVER NITRO SCHEDULE
SUNDAY: 11 a.m., championship eliminations

ON ESPN2
SUNDAY: 7-10 p.m. (ET), delayed

WEATHER.COM FORECAST
Sunday: High 90s; 30 percent chance of rain