National: Darren Nicholson Indy ORP Sunday report

CLERMONT, Ind.- Darren Nicholson, driver of the J C Auto Glass/Doug Herbert Performance Parts/B.R.A.K.E.S. Top Alcohol Dragster, will enter eliminations of the 56th Annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in the 11th spot.

With 24 cars trying to make the 16 car field for the prestigious event, Darren and the team had their work cut out for them.

"We struggled in qualifying, mainly because there are so many cars going down the track before us, which is unlike most other national events, so we flat out weren't prepared for it," said Nicholson.

After first round of qualifying, Nicholson sat at 10th with an elapsed time of 5.451. Completion of round two saw Nicholson at the 13th spot. He didn't make a full pass, caused by some breakage from the engine. In round 3 of qualifying, Darren regained his 10th place spot, thanks to his best qualifying pass of 5.352. After the fourth and final qualifying session, Nicholson drops to 11th, due to an ET of 8.75.

Nicholson, who qualified 11th with a conservative 5.352 pass, said "We had to back the car way down in order to get down the track. The starting line here at Indy is tricky, so that was a challenge for us. We struggled all weekend and realized we had a problem with two of the clutch arms."

Nicholson and crew got the problem fixed and are now ready for first round of eliminations, where they will face #6 qualified Jim Whiteley.

-source: darren nicholson PR