Dodge Direct Connection NHRA Arizona Nationals • Motorsport America

“The struggles continued Friday and Saturday that we went through at Gainesville and Pomona. There were just difficult track conditions on Friday, so we didn’t get down. Saturday really wasn’t much better and was still a little frustrating for the team. Race day on Sunday, we ended up 15th out of 16 qualified cars and drivers, so we go up against the number two qualifier, which was Brittany Force. She had trouble, we had trouble just a little bit further out than she did. We pedaled it down to the line and got to the next round. Honestly, it’s kind of the break this Dodge Direct Connection team needed. It doesn’t sound like a lot just winning one round, but having that opportunity to keep working on this car on a tricky race track meant a lot. We’ve had three very challenging race tracks because of weather and different conditions and different variables. These guys really rallied today, so by having the opportunity to make three runs, you feel like we’re finally starting to get a base and then can work from there. The encouraging thing is we’re going to Vegas next week and we’re all very confident the track is going to be in great shape. There’s a race that ran there this weekend, so it’s going be awake so to speak and they do a great job on track prep there. We’re going to have way better conditions and feel like it gives us a better opportunity to dial in under what I would consider more normal circumstances than what we’ve been through these first three weeks. I never thought just winning one round would take such a weight off your shoulders. It’s kind of like when we made the first run at Gainesville. I kind of relaxed and settled in. It was the same way today getting through the first round and after we did that, I started to get that rhythm again. It reminds me of going rounds with Pops (Rich McPhillips Sr.) and Richie (McPhillips Jr.) last year and that team, so it’s settling into that rhythm and mindset. Having those experiences last year definitely came into play today, so it’s good for all of us as a team. We’ll just keep digging. I’m looking forward to next week.”