Cruz Pedregon Puts His Charger On The Pole At Mile-High Nationals:

Cruz Pedregon raced his Mopar-powered Snap-On Dodge Charger SRT HELLCAT Funny Car to the provisional No. 1 qualifying position Friday evening at the Dodge Mile-High NHRA Nationals Presented by Pennzoil at Bandimere Speedway near Denver.

Pedregon and Ron Capps posted the fastest two runs of the second session to lead six Mopar-powered Dodge Charger SRT HELLCAT Funny Car drivers in the preliminary ladder for Sunday’s elimination rounds. Pedregon’s pass of 4.002 seconds at 317.42 mph narrowly edged out Capps’ lap of 4.005/316.97.

“It feels great to go out and be No. 1 in our Snap-On Dodge Charger SRT HELLCAT,” said Pedregon, the 1993 and 2013 Dodge Mile-High NHRA Nationals Funny Car winner. “I’m really happy for Dodge and Mopar. What they do for the sport is tremendous. I was part of the Mopar Block party last night for the first time and it was an incredible event. I really want to pay them back for their investment in me throughout the year. We’ve had some ups and downs, but I think that the needle is pointing up for us. The Snap-On Dodge is coming around. Bandimere Speedway has been really good to me through the years. It’s good to be No. 1 after Friday night.”

Matt Hagan paced the opening session, debuting his new Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) 2020 Dodge Charger SRT HELLCAT Widebody Funny Car to capture three qualifying points, while Jim Campbell, Tommy Johnson, Jr. and Jack Beckman made qualifying passes to put them in the provisional field.

In Top Fuel, reigning Dodge Mile-High NHRA Nationals champion Leah Pritchett qualified the DSR 1320 Angry Bee-schemed Dodge Mopar Top Fuel dragster second with her run of 3.839 seconds at 330.31 mph in Friday’s second session.