Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals
Brainerd International Raceway
Brainerd, Minnesota
August 19 - 21, 2022
Leah Pruett, driver of the Mopar 85th Anniversary Top Fuel Dragster:
● Earned No. 10 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (4.907 ET at 146.10 mph).
● Earned No. 3 provisional qualifying position in Q2 on Friday (3.702 ET at 330.47 mph).
● Scored one bonus point for third-quickest run of the session.
● Dropped to No. 5 provisional qualifying position after Q3 on Saturday (3.706 ET at 332.51 mph).
● Secured No. 6 qualifying position based off Friday’s Q2 run. In Q4 on Saturday, Pruett ran 4.439 ET at 178.28 mph.
● Ran a 3.822 ET at 279.85 mph in Round 1 of eliminations on Sunday, lost to Shawn Langdon (3.760 ET at 329.34 mph).
● Currently tied with Langdon for sixth in the Top Fuel championship standings, 445 points behind leader
● Pruett’s track record time of 3.640 ET set in 2017, remains intact after the 40th annual NHRA Nationals at Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway.
From Leah:
As we’ve gotten further into the season, we’ve gotten further into our pool of knowledge. First round, we joined the rest of the field of having traction problems. It seemed to be difficult for all the teams. Going into Q2, we had a nice and spicy 3.70, which was something we felt was right inside our target for getting down the track, especially during a night session. The next day, we felt like we could improve upon that and our avenue was new. We tried a new theory of accelerating the car. At the end of the day, it’s an acceleration game when we break it into multiple parts down the track. It was either going to throw down or throw up, and what did it do? We ran almost the exact same time with a 3.70. That opened up a Pandora’s Box with theories about how we can apply power. We went back to our raceday tune-up for the final session to get ready for Sunday. We didn’t quite make it down the track. Going into raceday, sometimes you’ve got mountains and sometimes you’ve got valleys. Raceday was not our most shining moment. We dropped a cylinder and I did not have my most impressive self against somebody we continue to race throughout this entire season, I think more than anyone else. We will peak again and there’s not going to be a better time to do it than at the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals. We’re still in a healthy spot in the championship and now we’ve learned more and we’ll gain more.
Contact: Ashley Wilson, (303) 594-8147, Ashley.Wilson@TrueSpeedCommunication.com
