Baytown: Jack Beckman Saturday summary

BECKMAN NO. 14 IN HOUSTON QUALIFYING

BAYTOWN, Texas (March 31, 2007) - After the last two of four qualifying sessions were cancelled because of rain, Jack Beckman found himself No. 14 in the field and will face his teammate Ron Capps in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday.

Beckman's quickest pass in the Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car was his first on Friday, a 4.995-second pass at 259.41 mph, which was followed by a 10.831/71.81 lap, in which his parachutes opened early.

"I told Capps and those guys we want to beat them in the final, not first round," said Beckman. "It's frustrating because I don't think we showed what we are capable of. We're a top-five car sitting 14th right now and it's really not even that good because four great John Force cars aren't here this weekend.

"In light of what's happened in the last week, sitting in the rain not qualified that well still ain't that bad a place to be. But, I think that you can almost throw out qualifying. Tomorrow is going to be so different with what the rain's done to the race track, that maybe that will level the playing field and work to our advantage."

-credit: dsr