SONOMA, Calif., July 27, 2008 – Despite missing the season’s first five races because of sponsorship challenges, Chevy driver Dave Connolly has muscled his way into the top 10 of the Pro Stock standings on the strength of his second victory of the season at today’s 21^st annual FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway. In an all-Chevy Pro Stock final round, Connolly drove his Charter Communications Chevy Cobalt to a narrow holeshot win over his teammate, Jeg Coughlin Jr., in the JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt with a winning elapsed time of 6.628 seconds at 207.69 mph to Coughlin’s slightly quicker 6.627 e.t. at 207.24 mph.

“I definitely had my doubts about this weekend (coming off thedisappointing loss at Seattle), but you can only beat this team down so much before we’re going to bounce back,” Connolly said. “I hadn’t drove that well and today I told myself it’s time to remove my head from my rear.”

Amazingly, Connolly has advanced to four final rounds in his 10 races this season with victories at Bristol and now Sonoma, and runner-up finishes at St. Louis and Englishtown. This impressive surge has pushed him into the top 10 that qualify for the Countdown to 1, and today’s 19^th career win leaves him with a 52-point cushion over 11^th-place Warren Johnson with just three races remaining before the Countdown cutoff after the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis.

Points leader Greg Anderson in the Summit Racing Pontiac GXP joined Connolly and Coughlin in the semifinal round by defeating Justin Humphreys in Round 1 and V. Gaines in Round 2 before losing to runner-up Coughlin in his side of the semifinal bracket. Anderson still has a class-leading five wins on the season and leaves the third and final race of the three-events-in-three-weekends Western Swing with a 106-point cushion over his teammate Jason Line.

In Funny Car, Gary Densham in the Racebricks Chevy Impala SS advanced to his second final round of the season (lost to Tony Pedregon at Gainesville) and the 20^th of the former high-school shop teacher’s career. Densham entered today’s eliminations qualified in the 12^th position and defeated Ron Capps in Round 1, Jack Beckman in Round 2, and then had a classic Chevy versus Chevy duel with points leader Tim Wilkerson in the semis.

Densham ended up with a holeshot win over Wilkerson with an elapsed time of 4.242 seconds at 286.50 mph to Wilkerson’s quicker-but-losing 4.235 e.t. at 279.38 mph to face Force Racing’s Robert Hight in the final round. Hight got the better of Densham in the money round with a winning elapsed time of 4.163 seconds at 296.50 mph to Densham’s 4.222 e.t. at 289.14 mph, but today’s strong showing vaulted Densham from eighth to sixth in the Funny Car points standings.

"I'd say our car is back," Wilkerson said. "It's showing signs of coming around and acting like it used to. It's good in middle of the track which is what we've been trying to get back. We're proud of our first two runs today. We couldn't have asked for a better car.

“Of course, I'm beating myself up over our run against Gary. The whole thing was a bad deal. We got up there late, the light was long and when I hit the gas the car didn't react the way it usually does. It broke a valve at about one second and by the end of the run, it beat itself to junk. That run should have been ours, but the car let me down and I let me down."

This was the second consecutive race that three Chevrolets have advanced to the semifinal round of Funny Car eliminations with last week’s Seattle winner Tony Bartone joining Tony Pedregon and Densham in the semis at Pacific Raceways, and then Densham, Pedregon and Wilkerson advancing to today’s semifinal round. Hight’s win also ended Chevy’s five-race Funny Car winning streak dating back to Tony Pedregon’s Chicago win last month.

Not to be outdone, Chevy drivers in the Sportsman classes continued the winning theme for the red bowtie as Dan Fletcher won Competition Eliminator in a Chevy Cobalt and then turned around and advanced to the finals of Stock Eliminator in a Chevy Camaro before losing to Eric Waldo. Robert Naber also won the Super Gas title in a Chevy S-10.

The next stop on the 24-race NHRA POWERade circuit is the 27^th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minn., on Aug. 7-10, 2008.

PRO STOCK
Winner – Dave Connolly (Chevy Cobalt), 6.628ET/207.69MPH
Runner-up – Jeg Coughlin Jr. (Chevy Cobalt), 6.627ET/207.24MPH
No. 1 Qualifier – Mike Edwards (Pontiac GXP), 6.609ET/208.71MPH
Low elapsed time – Jason Line (Pontiac GXP), 6.590 seconds (track record)
Top Speed – Warren Johnson (Pontiac GXP), 209.33MPH (track record)

Top 10 – 1. Greg Anderson (Pontiac GXP), 1,106; 2. Jason Line (Pontiac GXP), 1000; Kurt Johnson (Chevy Cobalt), 991; 4. Jeg Coughlin (Chevy Cobalt), 945; 5. Allen Johnson (Dodge), 858; 6. Mike Edwards (Pontiac GXP), 782; 7. V. Gaines (Dodge), 779; 8. Greg Stanfield (Pontiac GXP), 729; 9. Ron Krisher (Chevy Cobalt), 728; 10. Dave Connolly (Chevy Cobalt), 682.

FUNNY CAR
Winner – Robert Hight (Ford), 4.163ET/296.50MPH
Runner-up – Gary Densham (Chevy Impala SS), 4.222ET/289.14MPH
No. 1 Qualifier – Ashley Force (Ford), 4.096ET/301.60MPH

Top 10 - 1. Tim Wilkerson (Chevy Impala SS), 1,082; 2. Robert Hight (Ford), 983; 3. Tony Pedregon (Chevy Impala SS), 899; 4. Ashley Force (Ford), 830; 5. Cruz Pedregon (Toyota), 828; 6. Gary Densham (Chevy Impala SS), 796; 7. Ron Capps (Dodge), 757; 8. John Force (Ford), 740; 9. Mike Neff (Ford), 686; 10. Jack Beckman (Dodge), 632.

TOP FUEL
Winner –Tony Schumacher, 4.007ET/304.05MPH
Runner-up – Hillary Will, 4.173ET/276.97MPH
No. 1 Qualifier – Antron Brown, 3.805ET/316.457MPH

Top 10 - 1. Tony Schumacher, 1,414; 2. Antron Brown, 1,018; 3. Larry Dixon, 953; 4. Rod Fuller, 905; 5. Cory McClenathan, 891; 6. Brandon Bernstein, 890; 7. Hillary Will, 843; 8. Doug Herbert, 773; 9. Dave Grubnic, 651; 10. Doug Kalitta, 629.

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