Englishtown: Doug Herbert preview

Herbert ready for another trip to New Jersey

LINCOLNTON -- When Doug Herbert and the rest of the Snap-on Tools Top Fuel team pull up to the gates at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., they might have a sense of deja vu. After all, they were there less than two weeks ago.

But this time it's not just for fun. Every round counts now.

Herbert and the rest of the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing series will be in Englishtown this weekend for the 36th annual K&N Filters NHRA Supernationals. It wasn't too long ago that Herbert took part in the Snap-on Tools Night of Thrills at the track, but that didn't have any consequences in regards to the Top Fuel point standings.

"Last time we were in Englishtown for the big exhibition race," Herbert said. "Now we are going back for the national event and we need to earn as many points as possible. Going back for the second time in a short time frame could help us because we can use the data from the exhibition race and improve on that for the national event."

Having data could help, but Herbert also realizes how tough the competition is this season. At this point last year Herbert was 7-10 in elimination rounds and was ninth in the point standings. This year, he's won two more rounds and is eighth headed into the 11th event of the season.

"Top Fuel is so competitive and it's difficult to make big jumps up in the standings because there are a lot of good teams out there," Herbert said. "I know we are better than we were last year. This team works so hard and it's great to see the improvement. We need to do whatever we can to chip away at the points.

"We have more data on Englishtown because we were just there, but we need to make sure we take advantage of that and avoid making any mistakes."

The NHRA POWERade Series starts pro qualifying with sessions on Friday at 4 and 6:30 p.m. Qualifying continues Saturday at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. before final eliminations start at 11 a.m. Sunday.

ESPN and ESPN2 will air coverage of this weekend's event starting with qualifying at 8 p.m. (ET) on Saturday. Final eliminations can be seen on ESPN at 4 p.m. (ET) on Sunday. NHRA 2Day starts at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday on ESPN2.

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