op Fuel newcomer Jasmine Salinas remains optimistic after reaching a new personal best speed in qualifying at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals. Despite a frustrating first-round exit on race day, the fan-favorite driver is not counting her Scrappers Racing Top Fuel team out of contention for the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship.
In qualifying, Jasmine laid down the fourth quickest pass of the valuable Friday evening session, showing the fans at Brainerd International Raceway a blistering lap of 3.714 seconds at 334.90, recording the fastest speed of her burgeoning career. She backed it up with another good-looking qualifying run on Saturday when she went 3.737 at 332.92 in the final session.
Entering race day from the No. 6 qualifying position, Jasmine lined up against the No. 12 qualifier, Josh Hart. This marked the first time the two faced each other in eliminations. Jasmine made a stellar effort with a run of 3.742 at 330.96 but Hart got the starting line advantage and held on to it to take the holeshot win.
I’m disappointed and feel like I let our team down this weekend,” remarked Jasmine. “That put us even further back from making it into the countdown. We have a lot of work ahead of us to make up for these first-round losses. I ran my fastest speed this weekend, going 334.90 mph, so we know our car is there. It’s going to take a lot of work over the next couple of weeks, but we’re not giving up just yet.”
The Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis will mark the final event of the regular season leading into the Countdown to the Championship. Performances at the iconic event will be worth points-and-a-half, which means that anything can happen as racers vie to be a part of the Top Ten. The Scrappers Sisters will be reunited at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park when Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Jianna Evaristo joins her sister to compete at the Big GO from August 30 – September 2.
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