Connolly confident he'll bounce back into contention at Motorplex
Five races, 106 points and nine drivers separate Dave Connolly from
capturing the coveted 2008 NHRA POWERade Series Pro Stock championship.
The Countdown to 1 resumes at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Friday
through Sunday, with Connolly and the Charter Communications/Lucas Oil
Chevy Cobalt team attempting to return to the competitive form that saw
him drive into four straight final rounds, win twice and clinch the No. 6
starting position.
But an off race at Charlotte Sunday not only ended that streak, it bumped
him from competition in the first round and dropped him to seventh place,
106 points behind the series leader.
"It's pretty much the position we put ourselves in," Connolly
said Wednesday. "We screwed up and now we have to suffer the
consequences and try to make up the points this weekend.
"It's not like we closed the door in our face; it's just a
minor stepping stone we have to get over. Now we need to string some
good races together. We'd come off four final rounds in a row going
into Charlotte and, as much as I'd like to be in the finals of every
race, I know that's not possible.
"We made some mistakes and we didn't get away with them there,
but we'll see what happens at Dallas."
Connolly is the defending Motorplex Pro Stock champion. He added another
win at the track in 2004.
"We won at Dallas last year and we just have to pick up where we left
off last year and get ourselves a win. We'll see how the points are
for this week," Connolly said. "We were three and one-half rounds
out going into the Countdown to 1 and now we're a little over five,
so we didn't lose a lot of ground. We just lost a race, basically.
We just stumbled a little."
Connolly and the Cagnazzi Racing team have been resilient this season.
They rallied after beginning the campaign five races after their rivals.
Connolly won four times and went to seven final rounds in his first 13
races to secure a top 10 berth.
"We're happy we're in the position we are," said
Connolly. "Now we just have to do a better job than we did last
week."
-credit: vcr
