It was a day of weather changes at the Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway on Saturday. With rainy weather ending early in the afternoon, the NHRA Safety Safari had plenty of work to do to get the track dry and in racing condition. They did exactly that and were able to get qualifying completed over the late afternoon and early evening.
While some great speeds were achieved, many of the competitors struggled with the extra power and cool conditions. At the end of the day, Alexis DeJoria stood at the top of the ladder in Funny Car, Steve Torrence was tops in Top Fuel and Scotty Pollacheck was the fastest in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
Alexis DeJoria ran a blistering 3.907-second pass at 326.79 mph in Saturday’s final qualifying session to capture the number one qualifier for Sunday’s NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.
It’s the first pole position of the season for the Bandero Toyota Camry driver. She had previously qualified second six times. It also marks the fifth pole of her career. She will open eliminations with Paul Lee on Sunday.
After Steve Torrence announced that he would be partnering with Toyota in 2022, he did everything he could do to beat them on Saturday running a 3.667 at 331.28 MPH to secure the top spot in Top Fuel.
This was the fourth time in 2021 that Torrence has been the fastest in qualifying and the 31st time in his career to sit atop the ladder on the final day.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, it was Scotty Pollacheck who had the fastest bike in Tennessee running a 6.859 at 197.80 MPH. In the media center after the run, Scotty mentioned that he was glad to be racing at Bristol Dragway for the first time and this was his first trip ever to Tennessee altogether.
Sunday will provide additional challenges for everyone as the temperature is expected to be around 50 degrees for round one. There are some great match ups in the first round across each division and the day will surely be action packed.
Check out the Saturday recap at NHRA.com:
Alexis DeJoria's reaction after scoring the top qualifier: