TONY P AIMED AT WINNERS CIRCLE

"We feel like we let one slip away," Tony Pedregon said of his semifinal mistake against Force. "Weíve got one of the best performing cars out here. We just need to be able to put a string of runs together on race day. Weíre going to keep pressing."

He said the car's lurch toward the right against Force was a new sensation for him. "We made some adjustments to the wing, and we think it might have made the front end a little too light. It was on a 4.71 run. The car just wasnít responding to what I was doing."

He said he's still pleased with his car's performance. "This new Monte Carlo body is great and has brought us up to the same level with the other competitors. Sure we would've liked to have held on to the ëfastest and quickestí title, but Iím just as happy that we were able to accomplish what we did this weekend. Iíve got a great team and with Dickie (Venables) and Kurt (Elliott) making the calls, it's just a matter of time before we can put a whole weekend together and get in the winners circle."

WILD RIDES

Brandon Bernstein wasn't the only one who had a near-catastrophe on the track. No. 2 qualifier Scott Kalitta beat Brady Kalivoda in the first round of Top Fuel eliminations, but in the next round against Tony Schumacher, his Mac Tools/Jesse James Dragster almost flipped in a near blowover. Kalitta got off the throttle and managed to set the car back down. Despite losing to points leader Schumacher, he improved one place in the standings.

ALMOST 100 FOR KALITTA

Top Fuel winner Doug Kalitta qualified for his 99th consecutive race.

GRUBNIC MOVING UP IN POINTS

David Grubnic put the Kalitta Air Dragster at the head of the Top Fuel lineup for the fourth time this season with a 4.471-second pass at 331.77 mph. He was No. 1 also at Phoenix, Gainesville and Atlanta. He beat Mike Strasburg in the first round but lost on a holeshot to Scott Weis, an aspiring driver whom Grubnic's boss, Connie Kalitta, has been advising from time to time. Grubnic moved from fifth to fourth in the points.