TOPEKA, Kan. (May 24) - Rodger Brogdon is confident he and his ProtectTheHarvest.com Pro Stock team can shake off the bad luck that has plagued them in time for final eliminations at this weekend's NHRA Kansas Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka.
Brogdon qualified No. 5 and won in the first round Monday in Atlanta for his best showing of the season. Continuing to use engines from powerhouse Elite Motorsports, Brogdon hoped to continue that momentum this weekend, but luck hasn't been on his side.
"We just haven't been able to put together a good run yet," Brogdon said. "What's that saying, 'If we didn't have bad luck, we'd have no luck at all?' Yeah, that's about right this weekend.
"But we'll be fine Sunday. We know we've got good power, and if we can get some luck, we know we can win some rounds and maybe even the race."
Brogdon qualified No. 13 with a pass of 6.646 seconds at 207.27 mph, and he'll face No. 4 qualifier Jeg Coughlin Jr. in the first round Sunday. Coughlin's top pass was 6.616 seconds at 208.65 mph.
Brogdon started the weekend with a pass of 6.674 seconds at 207.21 mph in Friday's first session, but an engine problem forced a change. Friday's Q2 was rained out, so in Saturday's Q3 Brogdon made his best run of the weekend.
Even that one wasn't perfect, as the team needed to make adjustments to the new engine.
"I didn't do a very good job either," Brogdon said. "I messed up a couple shifts, so that's a hundredth or two right there. Plus, the engine was fat, so we know we could've gotten a couple more hundredths out of that, too. If I shift better and we get the engine what it needs, we're right there."
Brogdon hoped to get that elapsed time in the final session, but brake problems forced him to abort that pass.
"The car creeped in the burnout," Brogdon said. "I was all over the brakes but the car just kept on going. We backed up with almost no brakes, so I'm thinking, 'This is going to be fun.' I was going to run to 1,000 feet but I knew better."
