Thunder Valley Semis

Semifinals getting ready to begin here in Bristol. By the way, a great crowd on hand all weekend here at Thunder Valley. Both Friday and Saturday were announced as sellouts. Given the size of the crowd today, I would estimate that it's a great possibility this afternoon as well.

The staff at the Dragway have done a great job all weekend. And I can't say enough as a writer about the job done by the Bristol Media Relations staff and also the Media Relations reps of the drivers and the NHRA drivers themselves, who are perhaps some of the best guys I've dealt with.

The NHRA is a good thing. It's something I wish we had twice a year at Bristol. The cancellation of the event in May due to the track's surface has been a blessing in disguise as this event has just been phenominal. I would love to see this event remain in July permanently.
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TOP FUEL

Brandon Bernstein has had some horrible luck with the handling of his car. Somehow, he's still moving on. Both Bernstein and Larry Dixon smoked their tires and went sideways down the quarter-mile. Bernstein smoked his way to the line and moved to the finals.

"It wasn't pretty. But sometimes you've got to get those lucky breaks. We've had two of them today," Bernstein said.

Bob Vandergriff keeps winning. This time, Vandergriff upset Top Fuel points leader Rod Fuller en route to the finals.

FUNNY CAR

Cruz Pedregon beat Jim Head to reach the semis.

John Force made his first final round of the year with a 4.926 to 5.150 win over Tim Wilkerson.

"If feels good because I've really rode my guys hard," Force said. "Everybody's jumped in here to make this hot rod good. I asked for all of them to forgive me for being a jerk. I think Eric slapped me upside the head this morning and said be who you used to be."

PRO STOCK

Jeg Coughlin topped Justin Humphreys to move on.

Kenny Koretsky scored his third upset of the day, with a .006 from the starting line, beating Dave Connolly to meet Coughlin.