Rigler was out of the gate first with a huge advantage and repeated his 4.33 from the prior session, but Marriott drove around him with a nice 4.05 at 184 mph to advance. Hodgson (shown) drilled Burton off the line and never looked back advancing with a 4.38 at 160 mph to Burton’s 4.52 at 151 mph. Poloson had a tenth on Bouchey off the line but fell back with a 5.09 while Bouchey ran low elapsed time of the round with a monstrous 3.86 at only 168 mph, carrying the front wheels in the air as he cleared the traps.
Elrod clicked off a 4.18 at 174 mph to defeat Lewis’s career best 4.33 at 160 mph. It was a great weekend for Herb Whisnant’s “Thrill Factor” team (shown) as they set their career best twice and have made big steps this season in performance while Lewis has been doing a great job behind the wheel in his first season.
Marriott and Elrod (shown) squared off in the first pair of the semi-final. Elrod jumped the gun and went red off the line while Marriott stepped up to a very nice 3.99 at 185 mph to advance to his fifth final round of the season.
