Las Vegas: Whisnant exits in Round 2

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (Sunday April 8) - Mark Whisnant, driver of the PiranaZ Chevrolet S-10 Pro Stock Truck, has successfully used the 2nd Annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals to get the bad luck monkey off his back.

Whisnant has been plagued by bad luck for the last couple races. His bad luck has caused him to fail to qualify at the last two races. This weekend his luck turned when he qualified his truck in tenth position on the Pro Stock Truck eliminations ladder.

In Round 1 Whisnant met Victor Cagnazzi. Cagnazzi broke on the starting line giving Whisnant a by-run and a first round victory. Whisnant ran a respectable 7.664 / 176.40 mph

Round 2 place Whisnant against Winston points leader Randy Daniels. When the light went green Daniels took the advantage at the starting line and held on to take the win. Daniels ran a 7.582 / 177.88 mph to Whisnant's 7.615 / 176.90 mph.

"The driver didn't do his job on that run," said Whisnant. "I knew Randy (Daniels) would be quick, so I wanted to try and get out on him.=20

"I have not adjusted to this new truck yet. I need to become better acquainted and more comfortable with the new truck. Once I get a little more seat time in it, my lights will come around.

"Really I feel good about the weekend. We ran competitive. Even in that last round we ran competitive in the bad lane. I have to feel good about that.

"Our program seems to be coming around, and I feel like our luck has changed. I feel like we have made giant steps this weekend, but we have more to go.

"The next race is in Atlanta, our home track. You can bet that we will be burning the midnight oil in the next few weeks. We are going to test there in Commerce as much as we can before that race. We want to make a good showing at our home track, and we will put in the work to do that"

The next stop on the Pro Stock Truck schedule will be the Advance Auto Parts NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta, Ga. May 3-6.

-Patti Miles